# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/41 "2016-08-01T01:36:27Z")
[The taller candidate wins about 2/3 of the time.](http://uspolitics.about.com/od/CampaignsElections/fl/Do-the-Tallest-Presidential-Candidates-Always-Win.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/42 "2016-08-02T09:32:50Z")
> [@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? “Well, you know what they say about guys with big ears”. I think this wins the thread so far. People who think Hillary is a murderer or whatever are just misinformed, but this is just like…what? ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/43 "2016-08-02T10:11:37Z")
The only black Trump supporter I’ve encountered (also the only Trump supporter I’ve encountered - hey, there aren’t many of you overseas) told me he was voting Trump because “He’s the only one who’ll stop the Zionists from killing us all”. I should mention that he wasn’t a long-term acquaintance of mine. He saw me on a train platform, asked if I was American, then launched into his lengthy political thesis. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/44 "2016-08-02T10:13:54Z")
> [@Annoying\_Buzz](#): > > The only black Trump supporter I’ve encountered (also the only Trump supporter I’ve encountered - hey, there aren’t many of you overseas) told me he was voting Trump because “He’s the only one who’ll stop the Zionists from killing us all”. > > I should mention that he wasn’t a long-term acquaintance of mine. He saw me on a train platform, asked if I was American, then launched into his lengthy political thesis. Though, in retrospect, if you honestly believed that was true, then it’s not a very dumb reason. Batshit insane, sure, but not dumb. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/45 "2016-08-02T12:01:25Z")
Benghazi. Seriously, after all these congressional investigations that could not find wrongdoing on Hillary’s part, apparently she’s guilty of something by sheer repetition. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/46 "2016-08-02T12:55:44Z")
Well…how many people have I encountered who would say they are voting for Hillary because “I’m a Democrat”, or would say they are voting for Trump because “I’m a Republican”? Unexamined Tribal Identity is very strong and IMHO a very dumb reason to vote a certain way. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/47 "2016-08-02T15:41:00Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Well…how many people have I encountered who would say they are voting for Hillary because “I’m a Democrat”, or would say they are voting for Trump because “I’m a Republican”? > > Unexamined Tribal Identity is very strong and IMHO a very dumb reason to vote a certain way. Nonsense. Voting for a presidential candidate based on party affiliation is an entirely reasonable thing to do, assuming that you actually agree with the party on a large number of issues. The president appoints supreme court justices, and the president has the power of the veto, so a president of your party has a lasting and powerful effect of helping your party’s beliefs and policies get implemented. You might have a better argument for some other elected positions, say, state attorney general. But even so, if you don’t know anything else about the two candidates, the fact that one is a member of a political party whose philosophies you generally agree with definitely means _something_. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/48 "2016-08-02T15:42:49Z")
On an NPR call in show before the Republican debate, they had a African American Trump supporter :dubious: call in who said that he wanted to start a restaurant but didn’t have the “capital” to do so. He noted that a whole bunch of Ethiopian immigrants had somehow gotten the capital to open restaurants and so he should be able to as well. Note he didn’t want access to credit (he was very specific that he didn’t want a loan) he just somehow expected that if Trump were president money would just appear. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/49 "2016-08-02T15:51:09Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > 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. Or: He actually _likes_ what Trump says, and agrees with him. But he knows that if he admits it, he’ll be seen as a racist, an idiot, and a hater. So he latched on to ‘The gubment’s gonna take mah gunz!’ argument. When it was pointed out to him that that’s what they say about _every_ Democratic president, he had no answer. ---
**Author:** ![Crybaby\_Boobie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crybaby_boobie/32/545_2.png) [@Crybaby\_Boobie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crybaby_Boobie)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/50 "2016-08-02T15:51:49Z")
I once voted against a town council nominee specifically because he overwhelmed my neighborhood with signs. And I thought it was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/51 "2016-08-02T16:30:07Z")
> [@Crybaby\_Boobie](#): > > I once voted against a town council nominee specifically because he overwhelmed my neighborhood with signs. And I thought it was ridiculous. That’s a perfectly valid reason. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/52 "2016-08-02T16:38:50Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Nonsense. Voting for a presidential candidate based on party affiliation is an entirely reasonable thing to do, assuming that you actually agree with the party on a large number of issues. The president appoints supreme court justices, and the president has the power of the veto, so a president of your party has a lasting and powerful effect of helping your party’s beliefs and policies get implemented. > You might have a better argument for some other elected positions, say, state attorney general. But even so, if you don’t know anything else about the two candidates, the fact that one is a member of a political party whose philosophies you generally agree with definitely means _something_. The key word I used is UNEXAMINED. What you describe is someone who understands their own issues and priorities and believes that the party best serves them. I meet plenty of people who do not fit that description. They are Republican or Democrat based on some vague social identity. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/53 "2016-08-02T16:42:39Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > 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. I don’t know why Dick Phelan ever considered a career in politics at all. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/54 "2016-08-07T08:37:29Z")
A sweet little old Hawaiian lady on the bus today told me she supported Trump, because “women shouldn’t run countries.” ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-reason-youve-heard-why-someone-chose-to-vote-for-or-against-a-given-candidate/761240/55 "2016-08-08T11:05:33Z")
I voted every election for my State Senator because I used to babysit his kids, and he lived next door. We later found out he was shtupping his secretary, was indicted for fraud and corruption, fled the country and dropped dead of a heart attack. His widow still lives next door, and I find it hard to look her in the eyes… [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=2)