# How do you decide who to vote for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 27, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473 "2010-10-27T01:17:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/61 "2010-11-04T18:35:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Amen, Brother! > Can you give me an example? > Thanks! [http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638](http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638) Take a look at the top contributors to Obama. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley. Does that look like a bunch of people looking out for the little guy? ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/62 "2010-11-04T18:43:39Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > 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. Actually R sounds like the smart option when the Ds are trying to drive off a cliff. The problem is that some people tend confuse motion with progress. I’m ready for a little gridlock myself. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/63 "2010-11-04T19:38:32Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > [http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638](http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638) > > Take a look at the top contributors to Obama. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley. Does that look like a bunch of people looking out for the little guy? [Um…](http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00006424) those are pretty much the top contributors to every presidential campaign since before anyone here was born. Did you have some point you were attempting to make? Although hey, I don’t know when you were born. Judging by the comment above, you may well be one of those little old people who can’t tell the brake from the gas, and feels like they’re flying at 13mph. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/64 "2010-11-04T21:27:05Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > [Um…](http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00006424) those are pretty much the top contributors to every presidential campaign since before anyone here was born. Did you have some point you were attempting to make? > > Sorry, the context got stripped off. The original message was: > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by gonzomax View Post > > The Dems have been watered down by campaign financing. They are kissing the same butts the Repubs are to get money. > > When carnivorousplant asked for an example, I cited that. It isn’t obvious that we disagree about this based on what you said. > Although hey, I don’t know when you were born. Judging by the comment above, you may well be one of those little old people who can’t tell the brake from the gas, and feels like they’re flying at 13mph. You’ve got me there. Oh, to be young and ignorant like you again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/65 "2010-11-04T22:23:48Z")
Well, I’m not young, but I still have all my faculties. I have not, for instance, completely forgotten the past decade. ---
**Author:** ![Box\_A\_Rox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@Box\_A\_Rox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Box_A_Rox)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/66 "2010-11-04T22:33:51Z")
I live in a Republican Swamp… a rural county where the Republicans outnumber the Democrats 2 to 1. Often there are NO Democrats running for office in any local races. In essence on many races I have no vote. There are several candidates running in the Republican or Conservative primaries, that then run unopposed in the general election. Although I generally side with the Democrats, I have voted for Republicans either because the Republican was a good choice, or because the Democrat running was such a terrible choice. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/67 "2010-11-04T23:39:37Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > You’ve got me there. Oh, to be young and ignorant like you again. 🙂 Touche’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/68 "2010-11-05T14:54:13Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Well, I’m not young, but I still have all my faculties. I have not, for instance, completely forgotten the past decade. Can you remember all the way back to 2003 when the Bush administration tried to rein in Freddie and Fannie and the Democrats in congress like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd said the regulations weren’t necessary and the Bush administration was trying to keep poor people from getting affordable housing? [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/69 "2010-11-05T16:07:50Z")
> [@Ruby\_Slippers](#): > > 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. Exactly. I vote straight Democratic. Among elected officials, interparty variance in positions on political issues has pretty much swamped intraparty variance. The likelihood of a Dem candidate for anything from state legislature on up being less compatible with my values than a Republican candidate for that office is essentially nil. I’m old enough to remember Rockefeller Republicans and segregationist Democrats. There was a time when it made sense to vote the person, rather than the party. That time is long gone. If you buy into what Republicans are generally selling, you should vote a straight GOP ticket. If you buy into what the Dems are pushing, you should vote a straight Dem ticket. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/70 "2010-11-05T16:21:26Z")
I always look up the ballot ahead of time and research each candidate and review their platform and I will generally choose the one that I agree with most. This seems to more often than not result in me voting third party. The only time I won’t vote for the one I agree with most is if I feel we’re not enough in agreement, as in, if I only agree with roughly 60% of what that person says, or they have a particular opinion on something I very strongly disagree with, I will instead conscientiously object by voting a write-in. I know that isn’t meaningfully different from not voting, but for me, it’s the principle of the matter. And, honestly, to anyone who will only vote for a candidate who has a chance of winning, IOW either the Democrat or Republican in 99% of cases, even if there is potentially someone out there you agree with more, you’re everything that’s wrong with the system. I have no problem if someone votes Republican or Democrat if they honestly believe they’re the best candidate, but I know a huge number of people who admit they like a third party candidate better but are afraid of the other major party candidate winning more. If only everyone stuck to their convictions… ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/71 "2010-11-05T16:31:30Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Can you remember all the way back to 2003 when the Bush administration tried to rein in Freddie and Fannie and the Democrats in congress like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd said the regulations weren’t necessary and the Bush administration was trying to keep poor people from getting affordable housing? > > [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print) I do. I remember the ENTIRE decade, as I previously stated. Cherry picking doesn’t impress me. After all, I could just as easily blame the administration for not noticing AIG, which is the organization that truly started flinging shit at the fan. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/72 "2010-11-05T17:06:09Z")
> [@](#): > > And, honestly, to anyone who will only vote for a candidate who has a chance of winning, IOW either the Democrat or Republican in 99% of cases, even if there is potentially someone out there you agree with more, you’re everything that’s wrong with the system. I have no problem if someone votes Republican or Democrat if they honestly believe they’re the best candidate, but I know a huge number of people who admit they like a third party candidate better but are afraid of the other major party candidate winning more. If only everyone stuck to their convictions… If everyone followed your example, then we’d get a 200-million-way tie between write-in candidates. Now, what would be really nice would be a voting system which made better use of the information provided by the voters, so that it’d be possible for a voter to vote third party without throwing his vote away, and many of us do, in fact, agitate for such a system, but it’s very tough to get it into place (since the people currently in power got in power using the current system). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/73 "2010-11-05T17:35:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Now, what would be really nice would be a voting system which made better use of the information provided by the voters, so that it’d be possible for a voter to vote third party without throwing his vote away How would that work? ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/74 "2010-11-05T19:03:22Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I do. I remember the ENTIRE decade, as I previously stated. Cherry picking doesn’t impress me. After all, I could just as easily blame the administration for not noticing AIG, which is the organization that truly started flinging shit at the fan. We are discussing how our **elected officials** behave. You are trying to change the subject by bringing up AIG. AIG were greedy morons for insuring risks they didn’t understand, but we are discussing the behavior of **elected officials**. They are the ones that created the shit in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/75 "2010-11-05T19:15:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If everyone followed your example, then we’d get a 200-million-way tie between write-in candidates. Now, what would be really nice would be a voting system which made better use of the information provided by the voters, so that it’d be possible for a voter to vote third party without throwing his vote away, and many of us do, in fact, agitate for such a system, but it’s very tough to get it into place (since the people currently in power got in power using the current system). I would like to have a system, where I could vote **against** a candidate instead of for one. An antivote would subtract one from the total and would benefit all the candidates running against him. A third party candidate could win by being less offensive than his opponents. If all candidates had negative vote totals, then the candidate with the lowest negative number would win and I suspect we wouldn’t hear much ‘mandate’ talk. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/76 "2010-11-05T23:01:23Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > We are discussing how our **elected officials** behave. You are trying to change the subject by bringing up AIG. AIG were greedy morons for insuring risks they didn’t understand, but we are discussing the behavior of **elected officials**. They are the ones that created the shit in the first place. I’m not changing the subject, you’re cherry picking. The elected officials in question went after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and ignored AIG and any number of other publicly held firms that were engaging in far more egregious financial fuckery. They created the shit because they were allowed to. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473/77 "2010-11-06T01:46:10Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I’m not changing the subject, you’re cherry picking. The elected officials in question went after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and ignored AIG and any number of other publicly held firms that were engaging in far more egregious financial fuckery. They created the shit because they were allowed to. So in **2003** , instead of regulating Fannie and Freddie they should have been investigating AIG for things they didn’t do until **2005**? [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/the-cdos-that-destroyed-a\_b\_499875.html](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/the-cdos-that-destroyed-a_b_499875.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-decide-who-to-vote-for/558473.md?page=3)