# Do you vote based on choosing the best candidate that matches your views, or for the best outcome? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 31, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267 "2016-10-31T16:22:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/21 "2016-11-02T14:22:56Z")
I’m an anarchist. There is no politician anywhere who shares my views. I vote based on who I think (not who claims) will be the one who will infringe on the fewest freedoms and kill the fewest people. Contrary to most people, the economy is irrelevant to who I vote for. Outside of siphoning off the top via taxes, politicians have minimal effect on the economy. It’s far more important, in my mind, that people have the freedom to react to a changing economy as they see fit. This is what makes me hate Trumpists and blue collar Republicans. They seem to imagine it will just take a wag of the president’s finger to “bring all the jobs back home” from China or wherever they went. And that’s just fairy tale talk. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/22 "2016-11-05T02:46:56Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > There is no difference for me at the moment, living in a preferential voting system Yeah, I do both. My matching person for will often be eliminated fairly early, so if necessary, my preferences go toward the preferred outcome. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/23 "2016-11-05T03:21:45Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > A 3rd party candidate whose views exactly match mine, but doesn’t break 3% in polls, and has no fundraising. I would still vote for the major party candidate that I think would result in a better outcome for the country. Ah! Thanks for clarification; I was confused too. Yeah, outcome. I vote “strategically.” I have respect for Bernie Sanders supporters…up to the point where, today, they’re writing in his name on ballots. That costs them my respect; at this point, they’re just being foolish. Politics is the art of the possible. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/24 "2016-11-05T04:32:15Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > Well, Wall St seems to prefer Clinton, so if you care about your 401K balance… Not touching that for 20+ years. I wouldn’t mind a bit of a dip in the market to accumulate cheap shares. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/25 "2016-11-05T05:06:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So I am voting for “best outcome”. If the Libertarian Party in my state gets at least 5% of the vote, they get major party status. So, I am voting for them. That’s an interesting point. “Best outcome” doesn’t necessarily mean the lesser of 2 evils is elected. A Democrat voting “none of the above” might think that if his protest vote is part of a movement that causes Trump to get elected, but also causes positive changes in the Democratic party, that might be “best outcome” in the voter’s view. Until now, I had trouble verbalizing why I was considering not voting for Hillary, despite being a reliable Democrat. It’s not that I hate Hillary in particular, but I do hate the scandal which thrust her into the nomination and forced the DNC chair to resign in disgrace. If I thought that Hillary getting trounced in the election would be a wake up call to my party, and made them remember that we’re supposed to be the fucking good guys, I’d probably vote for Trump. Or at least, I would understand why someone would. I know your point wasn’t the same as mine exactly, it just helped me sort out an issue I grasped emotionally but not intellectually. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/26 "2016-11-05T05:11:44Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I have respect for Bernie Sanders supporters…up to the point where, today, they’re writing in his name on ballots. That costs them my respect; at this point, they’re just being foolish. > > Politics is the art of the possible. I respectfully disagree. A protest vote is still influential. Sure, Bernie won’t get elected, but if the Democrats realize they lost the election because of corruption in the primary process, maybe things will change. In that case, the “art of the possible” isn’t about winning this particular election, it’s about steering your own bus back onto the road. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/27 "2016-11-05T23:10:13Z")
Values, which I do think would produce a better outcome. This year, however, I am voting for Hillary Clinton, with whom I massively disagree with. I was not planning to vote for her in 99 out of 100 circumstances, but Donald Trump being the Republican candidate is pretty much the 1 out of 100 circumstance that will get me to vote for her. She will produce a better outcome. He’s the worst candidate of a major party in all 240 years of our nation. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/28 "2016-11-06T01:30:41Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > I respectfully disagree. A protest vote is still influential. Sure, Bernie won’t get elected, but if the Democrats realize they lost the election because of corruption in the primary process, maybe things will change. In that case, the “art of the possible” isn’t about winning this particular election, it’s about steering your own bus back onto the road. Well, that’s how the Tea Party reasoned, too… It doesn’t actually work. You can’t make a party veer more toward your choice of extreme positions by causing them to lose elections. Losing elections forces them more toward the center. (And I don’t believe there was any “corruption” in the primary process. Bernie lost, fair and square. The rules even gave him some advantages he wouldn’t have had in a straight-up vote.) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/29 "2016-11-06T01:36:00Z")
I honestly strive for both. I just got lucky this year… ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/30 "2016-11-06T15:37:20Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Well, that’s how the Tea Party reasoned, too… > > It doesn’t actually work. Are you suggesting the Tea Party hasn’t had a major influence on the Republican party? > [@](#): > > (And I don’t believe there was any “corruption” in the primary process. Bernie lost, fair and square. The rules even gave him some advantages he wouldn’t have had in a straight-up vote.) Why do you suppose the DNC chairwoman resigned? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267/31 "2016-11-06T17:19:32Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Are you suggesting the Tea Party hasn’t had a major influence on the Republican party? . . . Well, really, not so much. They constitute a wing of the party, but they’ve done more to split it than to move it, as a whole entity, the way they want. All this kind of thing can do is hurt a party, not change it fundamentally. That has to come from a large-base consensus, not from outliers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-vote-based-on-choosing-the-best-candidate-that-matches-your-views-or-for-the-best-outcome/770267.md?page=1)