# Dumbest reason you've heard why someone chose to vote for (or against) a given candidate **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 29, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240 "2016-07-29T23:59:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/21 "2016-07-31T02:37:51Z")
dumbest reason to vote against Clinton is definitely because “she’s a liar.” Hello, all politicians, by definition (as in a person who asks millions of people to vote for them, some of whom have conflicting interests), are inherently dishonest. How does anyone please so many people? Its as if people have never heard the saying “a friend to all is a friend to none.” ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/22 "2016-07-31T03:25:21Z")
Obama was going to fix immigration but Republicans blocked their own bipartisan bill because they decided they couldn’t trust Obama to enforce it. Did he lie about his intentions or campaign promises? Everybody wants to call politicians liars but sometimes things don’t work out. For me lying is promising to work for something then not doing so or even working against it. Trying to pass something and being unable to achieve that goal is not lying… Also, just had a conversation on Facebook where people were saying they wouldn’t vote for Hillary because she is a murderer. How many investigations does it take, you know… Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/23 "2016-07-31T07:17:57Z")
A friend at work told me the other day that he doesn’t want to vote for Trump but he has to because Hillary will take away his guns. I actually said “are you fucking insane?”. I also reminded him that he thought Obama was going to take his guns. He walked off saying “well, I have to”. To me, that’s worse than a true believer. He knows the guy is dangerous but doesn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/24 "2016-07-31T07:19:35Z")
My BIL voted for a candidate “because he looked more presidential.” Of course, my BIL is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/25 "2016-07-31T10:38:13Z")
My landlord. He claims he is Republican, so that is why you should vote for him (regardless of his actual stated convictions). I’m Repubplican (well, Libertarian), and even I see this is idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/26 "2016-07-31T10:55:12Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Man, I’m really uptight about my Facebook friends… Facebook =\ Friends (one of the few times I wish I was using android keyboard vs PC) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/27 "2016-07-31T11:11:48Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > My landlord. > He claims he is Republican, so that is why you should vote for him (regardless of his actual stated convictions). I’m Repubplican (well, Libertarian), and even I see this is idiotic. Agreed, although I’ve recently decided that the opposite is okay – that I find the policies, actions, and philosophies of many Republican elected officials so reprehensible lately, that I might vote AGAINST someone who calls themself a Republican, DESPITE my approval of their individual platform, because merely allowing oneself to be associated with that party is in itself (to me) reflective of poor judgment. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/28 "2016-07-31T12:41:25Z")
pretty sure my dad voted for JFK because he was an Irish Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/29 "2016-07-31T16:05:17Z")
“I just don’t like her.” ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/30 "2016-07-31T17:19:15Z")
There was a New Jersey politician named Millicent Fenwick. My late step-father-in-law said he wouldn’t vote for her because her name had the word “weak” in it. Of course (a) he was mispronouncing the name in his eastern European accent and (b) that’s a silly reason to select a person to vote for. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/31 "2016-07-31T17:43:42Z")
Women voting for Hillary only b/c she is a women and Blacks voting for Obama only b/c he Black. My mom voted for Hillary the first time she ran only b/c she is a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/32 "2016-07-31T17:57:41Z")
There is a member of a FB group I’m in who said he wouldn’t vote for Clinton because “you can tell she’s a bitch just by looking at her”. He is a die-hard Sanders fan. And of course I have several family members who still claim they’re voting for Trump because he’s not afraid to speak the truth. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/33 "2016-07-31T19:09:17Z")
There’s a poster on another board who said she lives in Oklahoma, and she knows couples where the wife votes for whoever the husband does, because that’s what they think she’s supposed to do. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/34 "2016-07-31T19:17:13Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I once knew a young woman ( would have been around 19 or 20, I think ) who decided she didn’t want to vote for Dukakis because he had “big ears.” I liked her, she was a sweetheart of a person, but…what do you say to that :D? I knew a woman I worked with who wouldn’t vote for Dukakis because he was too short to be a president. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/35 "2016-07-31T22:13:24Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > pretty sure my dad voted for JFK because he was an Irish Catholic. I always knew we weren’t related! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/36 "2016-07-31T22:22:36Z")
I can’t remember which election it was but a near and dear relation of mine voted for the Democrat because the Republicans always had donuts outside the polling place but didn’t that year. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/37 "2016-07-31T23:09:29Z")
Over in the “Hilary: Vote Your Conscience” thread, there’s a couple of people threatening to not vote for Clinton because her supporters in that thread are insufficiently nice. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/38 "2016-07-31T23:22:17Z")
I’m a high school teacher. I once had a 16-year-old who said her mother was going to vote for the Republican because Democrats made it so you can’t pray in school. I explained that a) she can pray all she wants, I’m equally restrained from telling her that she must or must not, and b) it was the Supreme Court who made that decision anyway. Every child has that moment where they figure out that a parent may sometimes be full of shit, and this might have been it for her. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/39 "2016-08-01T00:38:10Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Over in the “Hilary: Vote Your Conscience” thread, there’s a couple of people threatening to not vote for Clinton because her supporters in that thread are insufficiently nice. Yeah, I loved how one Doper reacted to this by paraphrasing the Harvey Keitel character from _Pulp Fiction_: (sarcastically) “Pretty please with sugar on top, vote for fu#$in’ Clinton.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/40 "2016-08-01T00:51:08Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > I knew a woman I worked with who wouldn’t vote for Dukakis because he was too short to be a president. This is apparently a fairly common phenomenon. There’s a definite bias in elections in favor of taller candidates. Someone’s probably calculated it, but I’m too lazy to google for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240.md?page=3)