I’ve become more active lately in my county party. As a result, I’ve been asked to join in their various efforts on behalf of candidates – make phone calls, go door to door with literature, march in parades, staff a booth at the county fair, and other similar activities. Since I personally don’t like phone calls or uninvited visitors and don’t attend parades and county fairs, I’ve declined all the “invitations.” But the party faithful seem to think these activities are crucial in winning the hearts and minds of voters. So that’s why I want to know how Dopers make their choices.
I freely admit that I almost always vote a straight party ticket. But I don’t think that’s as lazy and uninformed as it may sound. For starters, I have a pretty good idea of what my party stands for – its guiding principles and core values. An individual who chooses to run under that banner is likely to share many of those values, or at least a lot more likely than the opponent. In addition, I find most political advertisements to be either blatant name-calling or carefully scripted sound bites that simply tell me what “they” think will push my buttons.
So how do others make their decision? Reading campaign literature? Attending meet and greets? Reading newspapers? Although I’d like to hear from all parts of the political spectrum, I’d be most interested in hearing from those who consider themselves to be independent – that is, those who do not feel any strong commitment to any party. Do you have a few selected issues that decide the matter for you? Do you try to “take the measure” of each candidate? And I’d also be interested to hear what you think about the traditional methods – the phone banks, the canvasses, the parades, the county fairs. Do you feel these activities are at least minimally valuable or are they pretty much a waste of time and energy?
Absent any other information, I’ll vote by party, also, for the same reasons you lay out. And for big-ticket races like governor or US Congress, I’ll actively seek out information on the candidates and their positions. For the more local races, though, if you want me to vote for you, I consider it your responsibility to tell me why. If a candidate for a city or county level position, or for the state legislature, of the opposite party gives me a good reason to vote for them (around here, that’s most likely to be affiliation with the university, since education is a high priority for me), then I will. But I won’t seek out that information for every little race.
As Chronos, I usually vote party for the reasons you stated.
In the primary election, I listen to the candidates. The guy who ran against Blanche Lincoln was running on the “Blanche Lincoln is a Dukey Butt” platform.
I hate her voting to continue funding the war, but I’m not going to vote Republican, and with nothing constructive from her primary opponent, I voted for her then and will in the general election.
The last time I voted, I just went with the incumbent unless I knew they were doing a bad job, or knew bad information about them. This time, though, I will likely be more party minded, especially with Congress. When it comes to more local stuff, though, I’m not sure party matters at all. Heck, last time more than half the offices had Democrat vs Independent, which seems odd for a place that usually votes Republican. But this time, at least, I can actually look up stuff. Last time, I naively didn’t realize the local and national stuff was on the same election.
Yeah, it was my first time voting. Not because of any voter apathy, but because the 2006 midterms didn’t even cross my mind, and I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to do it back in 2004, as I was away at college.
For candidates, it’s usually a matter of figuring out if there are any credible 3rd party candidates I want to vote for because the Republican isn’t an option. I wish it were, but the only thing that Republicans claim to stand for that I believe in is financial responsibility, and they haven’t actually done that for quite a while.
For ballot measures, I usually read a few debates on the issue. More than once, I’ve been informed by what I’ve read on the Dope, actually.
I’m a Democrat. I read the local freesheets for endorsements. At the national level, I will vote Democratic, as moderate Republicans have been driven out of Washington.
I used to be much more choosy, and tried to evaluate candidates individually. But IMO some years back the Republicans drank the acid-laced Kool Aid, so now I vote straight Democratic out of fear of crazy Republicans.
It’s like driving a car: D to go forward, R for reverse. I vote straight Democratic for the offices that matter, for the local yokels I’ll read their bios and stands on impartial web sites, if I can find them.
Read, visit various campaign stops/events when I can, check voting records. Party affiliation doesn’t mean much to me; Reagan the Republican was basically Reagan the Democrat but his voting record gave a truer sense of what he would be as President.
As frightened as I am of many Republican candidates, the thought of a one-party system scares me even more. And Democratic control doesn’t mean what it used to. President Obama didn’t need one single Republican vote to get his full agenda through/ahead but in the end even a lot of Democrats couldn’t back our choice of leader. So now even more than in my youth I just have to invest the time and split my ticket as I see best.
Thanks to all for the feedback so far. It’s good to know I’m not the only one voting a straight party ticket. I’d still be interested to know if any of you see any value in parades, county fairs, phone banks, and door-to-door canvassing. I see a lot of value in candidate appearances, mostly at open meet and greet settings, but little or no value in the intrusive and bothersome phone banks and canvassing. They might have been useful in earlier times but these days, I think there are better ways to get your message out – like Facebook.
Can’t say about Facebook but personal appearances and pressing the flesh are still the best bet for Republicans running for office. Getting their message out, or just their faces for that matter, helps them win “softer” Democrats/Libertarians like myself and bolster turnout within the Party. Phone banks look to be mixed; they piss off as many people as they attract. But whatever means you use, it doesn’t look to help Democrats as much for some reason. And I’ve never understood quite why.
Anyone who calls me risks my vote (not really a problem since I got rid of my landline), and anyone who knocks on my door loses it, full stop. Howsabout you give me your address, and we’ll discuss the issues at your place when it’s convenient for me?
The only criteria? Of course not. But bothering me at home is unacceptably intrusive and disrespectful, and I let them know that by doing it they’ve lost my vote, in the hope that maybe they’ll cut it out.
And sure. At the ‘knocking on your door’ level we’re usually talking about city politicians anyway. Since I don’t own a home, have a kid in the schools or anticipate needing a liquor license any time soon, I have no problem with not voting for either of them.
I live in Arizona. I know I’m going to watch every Democrat lose except my House member in my gerrymandered district. At least I don’t have to worry about robocalls since there aren’t any competitive races this year.
For the local races, I vote by party even though I’m unfamiliar with most of the names. In the non partisan school board races, I google each candidate very carefully to make sure none of them are creationist or some other type of nutjob. For the judicial races, unless there is a judge who has been in the news, I tend to ignore these races.
I vote pretty much the straight party ticket except at the local level, there I go to the League of Women Voters site or other relatively impartial source and check out their positions on issues. I also watched the televised debates for the Georgia senatorial candidates … I’ll have no problem voting for Michael Thurmond for Senate, he sounds like a good Democrats, the others are waaaay off message as far as I am concerned.
Basically, living in an Atlanta metro suburb, I wind up voting for candidates who never win, but what the hell, it absolves me of responsibility for the antics of those who do win, which is a very good thing. Gotta tell you though, at the state level Georgia has had some pretty sane Republicans … if Nathan Deal wins the governorship, I think the state will toddle along just fine. If Roy Barnes, the Dem, wins, I think the same will happen, perhaps toddling along slightly better but both are long time Georgia state government politicoes who know their stuff. Kinda like Sonny Perdue was. The Libertarian candidate for governor, though … has no interest in governing really. Just wants to dismantle the state. I don’t think he has much of a chance, and I’m grateful for that.
Aren’t you contradicting yourself? You say that it’s not the only criteria, but then emphasize that knocking on your door will lose your vote. So once that person knocks on your, that’s become your only criteria, and issues be damned.
Um, no. You see, assuming that they DON’T bother me in my home, I vote based on issues.
But yes, once they bother me at home I will leave that slot blank rather than vote for them. If they can’t manage to be respectful of my personal time and space, I don’t have high hopes for them in terms of policy setting.
