DEMOCRATS: Have you ever voted for a Republican for President of the United States, or seriously considered voting for one, and would you consider voting for one in the reasonably near future?
If yes to the last question, what would need to happen for this to be a real possibility? (Please answer this question with a post.)
I chose: *I have voted for a Republican, and I might consider voting for one in the future. *Never say never, right? Although increasingly unlikely with every passing nanosecond, it’s possible the Republicans could come to their senses and embrace sanity again.
McCain was my guy in 2004. Unfortunately, by 2008 the Straight Talk Express was overtaken by zombies leaving McCain a dessicated shell of his former self.
Never happened yet that I’ve voted for a Republican for president, though I consider candidates on their own merits rather than what party they’re in. I voted for a Republican for state governor once. It wasn’t so much that I liked or agreed with the guy, but the Democrat he was running against was a complete putz and would have been a disaster in office. So that’s pretty much what it would take - if the Democrats put up somebody I feared was incompetent, I could cut my losses and vote for a Republican I disagreed with, but felt wouldn’t actually, you know, destroy the country.
I voted for McCain in 2000. Not the one from 2008; I didn’t recognize him.
I also voted for that dipshit Perot* even before that. Apparently, in my youth, I was not averse to voting for someone other than a Democrat.
I am older and wiser now. It is highly unlikely I will vote Republican in the future. However, I look forward to laughing at them some more soon. I used to think Republicans were just greedy and evil. I now think they are simply farcical, so over-the-top, it’s downright impossible to take them seriously.
I have never voted for a Republican for POTUS, but might do so in the future. For example, I would cross over and vote in a Republican primary if permitted to do so: this cycle I’d probably support the unelectable Newt Gingrich, the extremist and sexual obsessive Rick Santorum or the fringe candidate Ron Paul.
In November, I would consider voting for a candidate like Dwight Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover (assuming he had up to date macroeconomics) or the liberal Abraham Lincoln. But I don’t see the modern Republican Party nominating anyone like that in the foreseeable future.
ETA: The John Anderson and George Bush of 1980 would also deserve my consideration. The George Bush of 1988 not so much.
I first registered to vote as a Republican, and voted for George H. W. Bush in 1988, a vote I don’t regret. I’ve voted for Democrats since then, but I wouldn’t be adverse to voting for a Republican again if said Republican were competent, reasonably centrist, willing to work across the aisle, and not beholden to the wacko religious right, and also that the Democrats nominated some wet-blanket loser or incompetent loony.
If it had been Kerry vs. McCain in 2004, for example, that would be have been a tougher choice for me (for example), assuming McCain had nominated a sane and competent vice presidential nominee.
But the real question is: can a nominee who would likely govern as a centrist, i.e. be President of the United States and not just President of the GOP’s most conservative fringe, actually be capable of winning the nomination? I suppose that is very unlikely for the foreseeable future, unless the GOP rids itself of or alienates the lunatics that are royally screwing up the party.
I was a registered Republican from 1972 (when I voted for Nixon) and never voted for a Democrat until 2000 when my spider sense told me Bush was a piece of shit. I voted never again, but I suppose that could change if the Republican party ever regains sanity.
Never voted for a Pub for POTUS, and I’ve withheld my vote when the Dem seemed objectionable to me: As I said in the other thread, I failed to vote for Carter’s reelection and for Clinton’s (Though I’m 58, 2008 was my first winning Presidential vote). I would vote for a Pubbie if I ever saw who wasn’t utterly full of shit and hypocrisy, but doubt I will live that long.
The only Republican I ever voted for was Gerald Ford, only because I really didn’t like Carter. But Republicans back then were very different from the ones they’ve got now. I’d never vote for any of them.
I voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980. He said he was going to balance the budget. To be sure, he also said he was anti-abortion and would do stuff along those lines but for some reason I thought he was just pandering to a certain portion of the electorate and wouldn’t actually DO anything once elected. Meanwhile Jimmy Carter had vetoed some piece of progressive feminist legislation and explained this by saying “Sometimes life isn’t fair”*, so I had decided the Democratic party wasn’t very reliable as far as being socially liberal was concerned, so why should they count on my vote?
I still don’t think the Democratic Party should be able to bank on my vote. I’m open to being persuaded by the Republicans at any point that they should care to field a viable candidate.
I googled the phrase; everyone agrees he said it but I’ll be damned if I can find reference to the specific piece of legislation pertinent to which he said it. And I don’t remember, dammit.
This. The Republican party has turned into an evangelical Christian organization. As an atheist and a feminist, I simply can’t stomach most Republican candidates, especially at state and national levels. I’ll occasionally vote for Republicans at the city and county level, but since most of them are also evangelical Christians, and base their policies on their version of Christianity, I won’t vote for the ones who will try to make the US (and/or our little portion of it) into a theocracy.
Oh, and “I’m a unique snowflake, and your options just don’t cover my special circumstances” might be the best option EVER, but another option was closer to my situation. I’ve never voted for a Republican for POTUS, just for minor positions.
I have, but not for several years now. I stopped right about the time they went insane, coincidentally. Unless the party seriously changes- divorcing themselves from the Religious Right, for starters- I honestly can’t see myself ever doing it again.