Since Becoming a Canadian citizen I’ve voted in every federal and provincial election in Canada. I’ve never changed my mind during an election campaign, not because I’m wedded to one party, but simply because I vote on the performance of the incumbant party prior to the election call. I actually find the commercials that all the parties put out insulting to peoples intelligence and do not hold any serious credence to any election promises.How about you? Have you ever been one of those people who cause the polls to change every week ?
In 2003, I signed the petition to have Gray Davis recalled from the governorship in California because I disagreed with some decisions he’d made and I felt he needed to go.
After seeing who the alternatives were, I ended up voting against recall.
On a local level, a few years ago I had thought that I would vote for a city council candidate based on what I could glean from his statements in the paper. But then I met the guy, and he was a real asshat.
On the state/national level, I’ve been turned off enough by some of the negative ads run by candidates that I would otherwise have voted for to switch, usually to a minor party candidate.
I picked “Yes because of another reason.” Other = things learned during primary debates.
There was a candidate for senate I liked this year…until he mentioned during the debates that he was actively opposed to adoption by gay couples to the point of wanting a law against it and it could be extrapolated that he’d also like to over turn the gay marriage law. Not cool. I ended up voting for someone else (who was a lot less prolife than I liked, unfortunately) instead. None of his anti gay rights stance was on his website, ftr.
No, because I do pay attention when we’re not “in campaign”, not just during the campaign and pre-campaign periods. These last two have often given me additional arguments, but it’s not like you have to wait for the campaign to know who buys votes, who is incompetent, who will do a good job in pretty much any position (because their skills are in management), who should stick to a specific kind of position (because those positions are where their interests and skills lie)…
I’m surprised by the absence of “Yes, because of a (televised) debate” which is what I would have clicked. (I’d have voted Dukakis in 1988, but felt his poor reactions in the debate might imply poor reactions in the White House.)
ETA: Der Trihs wrote: “No. My goal always is ‘keep the Republican out’.” This is a correct attitude, if only in the national elections of post-rational America. It may be good to “vote for candidate not party” in some elections, but is foolish in other cases.
I don’t bother to listen to political debates or speeches; they are all liars, so there’s no point. I judge them by what they have actually done or are doing, not their words.
I voted “no,” wherein by “election campaign” I take to mean the party has already chosen its candidates. During primary/caucus season, I have my favorites. They usually lose out to religious-right wankers.
During the last primary/caucus season I was flipflopping between Barack and Hillary, in which one would be less worse for the country if elected. I’m still undecided.
My first inclination is usually to vote Republican, but from time to time the Republican nominee turns out to be unpalatable, and I vote for someone else.
For instance, I voted for Democrats Mark White and Ann Richards for governor, because I couldn’t stomach Bill Clements (I wasn’t surprised that he was up to his eyeballs in the SMU football payoff scandal) or Clayton Williams.
I voted yes because of various reasons, but maybe not. During the last campaign I was a Hillary supporter, but I switched to Obama right around the day after the primary. But I was already getting sick of her negative campaign.
It’s not really an issue of changing my mind but I vote for Libertarians (and some of those weird politicians who’ve apparently made up their own party), during the primaries.
Unfortunately it almost always comes down to Republican or Democrat during the general elections.
I’m with Der Trihs on this one, all politicians are suck-faced liars who will invariably let me down. I vote Republican because I like some of what they say even if they don’t deliver. I don’t like what Liberals say OR what they do so it’s pretty easy not to tick that box.
I find it incredibly disheartening that I’ve never been inspired by a candidate, I always just pick the ones I consider the lesser of two evils.
Yes, because my political views have shifted slightly, and I occasionally find myself trying to choose between 2 or more parties which I feel I can tolerate. The way a campaign is run, the message sent during advertising or debates and the various political promises and platform issues all play a part.
On both the federal and provincial levels, my riding is a lock for the BQ/PQ, so strategy doesn’t really come into play. I vote for who I feel is the best representative for me.
Yes, because my dad’s ranting against Dianne Feinstein (he was mad that she supported the flag-burning amendment) brainwashed me. I ended up voting for the Green candidate. Bizarrely*, my dad ended voting for the Republican candidate.
*When I was a little kid, I asked my dad what the difference between Republicans and Democrats were, and his entire explanation was “Republicans hate poor people.”
Negatvie commercials usually push me toward the candidate that the ad is targeting. Anyone who slings mud loses my vote (or, at least, the candidate who does it first does).
Back when I was in college, there was a California ballot initiative regarding ‘green energy’. Being a card-carrying Republican, I was against it on principle since it was an evil, job-killing, commie-pinko-liberal-agenda sort of thing. Then I realized that I didn’t actually know what it was supposed to do, and none of the ad campaigns could actually tell me, so I decided to sit down and read the text of the initiative, and found myself voting for it.
As I recall it lost badly, but I still read the text of every single ballot initiative before Election Day.