>>>>”Key voters aren’t just the ones who haven’t made up their minds until the last minute.
They’re one half the key at least. The other half is turnout. Those who have made up their minds long before the election. Some always vote, the others are more problematic. GOTV is crucial and they have to think it’s important enough and their vote counts, the need emotional involvement.
The 5% who make up their minds at the last minute are those “independents” blech. But anything over 52% is a landslide, so, yes, they often determine the outcome, because they’re up for grabs.
Nationalizing the election means framing it such that the great majority voters see it as voting on the nation instead of the narrow issues of their district or the likeability of their congresscritter, pork, etc. Contract with America is a classic example.
You may think every congressional election is nationalized but it’s not, it’s rare and difficult. It takes a unified issue perfectly in tune with the moment and of extremely broad appeal and emotional content. With “Morning in America” it was “we want to feel proud to be Americans again” or “American exceptualism”. You can see this is a big emotional issue, in tune with voters of the time (we’re tired of this weak ‘malaise’ crap).
>>>>>”What specifically do you think should be left off the table, then?”
Issues that don’t fit well in the category above. Issues that divide off into subgroup upon subgroup and cause division even among normally unified blocks.
Fiscal issues that entirely leave aside all social issues, or to put it another way, a candidate who pushes fiscal conservatism while being a social liberal, will so de-energize a large number of voters that it almost insures a loss.
Plus, there really is no such thing as a real fiscal conservative/social liberal. All socially liberal positions require money to enforce, plus to clean up the mess they cause. Another way to describe social issues is "personal responsibility - not government responsibility".