I’m currently Independent and so picked that option, but in the past have been registered both Republican and Democrat. I was actually a Dole supporter in 1988 (although for the life of me I can’t remember why) and then voted Bush Sr. I went for Clinton in 1992 and have voted for Dems ever since for President, although Kerry in 2004 was a “hold your note and vote” candidate. And I was ambivalent on McCain, waiting to see if he’d move back to the center once he won the primary since I was not convinced about Obama until late in the game. Once Palin was added to the ticket, I ran screaming.
Would I vote GOP in future? Sure, if the right moderate comes along. But not with the current crop of loonies and losers, not while extreme social conservatism rules the roost and not until the “win at all costs, even if it destroys the country” mentality fades somewhat. Economic conservatism I can handle. Crazy I can’t.
Never voted for a Republican and don’t expect to encounter a situation where the Republican candidate would be on my side of the issues more than the Democratic candidate. That being said, I wasn’t too upset that Bush The Intelligent beat Dukakis, and wouldn’t have been too upset if Ford had beaten Carter. I’m still a big Carter fan, but I think Ford was a reasonable fellow compared to today’s GOP clown car.
To me, it’s crazy to base a vote solely on the characteristics of an individual candidate. We don’t live in a system in which a single individual controls policy. It is given to groups. So even if the Republicans were to somehow manage to nominate a decent, sensible candidate for president, I wouldn’t vote for him or her unless the rest of the party’s elected officials also somehow became decent and sensible. I see no benefit, for example, from having a Lowell Weicker as president with Congress led by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.
In fact, I think parties in an American system are too weak. In a strong party system, you have some assurance that the party whips will be able to force members of the legislature to adhere to party platforms. In that case, you’re more assured of knowing what you’re really voting for. In a weak-party system, it’s much more of a shell game.
I don’t remember for sure, but I think I voted for John Anderson in '80. Or I came very, very close. I now consider that a youthful indiscretion, given how Anderson turned out.
Would I vote R for POTUS in the future? I said unlikely in the poll. I disagreed with them on a lot of policies even before they became Teahadist. It could happen, if for no other reason than the Ds will have their turn at the well of teh krazee sooner or later.
I was a Dem-leaning independent, and back in '92 I was rather seriously considering Bush Sr. That is, I was until I noticed Limbaugh and his ilk had been invited to the GOP Convention that year, and immediately went over to Clinton (Perot was never on my radar, even before his meltdown). But that GOP resembles the current one very little, so it most certainly is not an option now.
I have voted for a GOP candidate for president twice - Pres. Reagan in 1980 and Pres. Bush in 2000. With Pres. Reagan I had a case of buyers remorse but Pres. Bush seemed like the kind of Republican that my parents talked about. I might have gone for Sen. McCain in 2008 had he not been saddled with Gov. Palin as a running mate. This year, the crop of GOP candidates set new lows and after the departure of Gov. Huntsman, it looks pretty sad.
I voted for Anderson in '80; he was a Republican running as an independent. So I picked “snowflake” in your poll: I have voted for a Republican, but not for the Republican party’s nominee.
I voted for Tim Pawlenty his first go-round for governor of MN, so I have voted for a Republican for governor. I’ve never voted Republican for POTUS, but I would’ve given a lot of consideration to McCain had he won the nomination against Bush. Unfortunately, that man died or something, because he got zero consideration from me in 2008.
The current crop of Republicans are so far away from me ideologically that we might as well be living on two different planets - not only can I not grasp their reasoning, I can’t even see what made them develop those ideas. That said, Huntsman seems sane. And as much as he’s a little crazy pants and I’m not in any sort of agreement with his isolationism, Ron Paul does have some good ideas. I have no time for Romney, Santorum, or Gingrich and would not vote for them under any circumstances.
I would definitely consider a Republican candidate that actually espoused the fiscal conservatism, personal freedom, and smaller government that the party used to stand for.
I judged George H.W. Bush to be the better choice in 1988. (IIRC, I didn’t actually vote for him: I compromised by not voting at all! )
In my youth there were plenty of moderate Republicans I’d have been happy to support. Even the right-wing Republicans at the time largely had intelligent sincere views.
But those Republicans are rolling in their graves today. To speak of voting for any of the present ilk can have no purpose except as the lead-in to a punchline.
The first Presidential election I was elligible to vote in was Reagan v Mondale. I voted for Reagan, mostly because my parents were voting for him and I didn’t really know one way or another - also Mondale reminded me of someone’s idiot cousin that they keep locked in the attic. I was very judgmental when I was 19.
I loathed Al Gore so much (though my opinion of him has since softened considerably) that I seriously considered voting for Bush. At the last minute, I smeared Vicks Vaporub under my nostrils and voted Gore.
Back in 2000, while the primaries were still going on, I was seriously considering McCain. It was to the point that if it was McCain vs. Gore, I was going to have a difficult time choosing, but I knew no matter which way we went, the country would be in decent hands.
Personally, I tend to fall into the “leans democratic” portion of the spectrum.
By 2008, McCain had swung too close to the pandering far right/religiously conservative group that he was a no from the start.
Therefore, yes - I think its very much possible that the Republican party as a whole realizes where it has gotten itself to, pulls a u-turn and gets back to considering reasonable candidates. At that point, I may consider voting for a Republican again.
I was a Republican up until the election of 1980. However I wasn’t old enough to vote at that point, so while I was very politically involved, did campaign work on a local level, and paid a lot of attention to presidential elections, I never cast a vote for a Republican. I rejected the Republican party because of the influence of the Moral Majority and the party’s embrace of conservative social issues. If they ever move back to a platform focused on economic policies and the role of government, and drop the allegiance to religious conservatives, I might be persuaded to return. At this point that seems very unlikely.
Technically, John Anderson was a Republican. I couldn’t stand Carter; he was as bad a president as I though he would be (though I didn’t vote for Ford – I went for Eugene McCarthy that year) and Reagan was even worse.
I am Gay, despise organized religions and the bible thumpers, believe in women’s rights, am anti-gun, am for immigration reform, agree with legislation to legalize marijuana, am not xenophobic, believe in evolution, against banning books, think education should get more money and also believe we are fucking up the environment and causing irreparable damage.
Chances of me voting for a Republican in my lifetime is slight.
Nope - in my voting life, the choices have been George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and McCain/Palin. Of those, Dole’s the only one I wouldn’t have dismissed outright, but I thought (and still think) Clinton was the better choice. The way the party seems to be headed, I can’t see myself ever voting for a Republican unless there was a monumental overhaul in the party’s platform.
)