# If you knew then, what you know now- would you vote for Hillary in 2016? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419 "2024-06-02T19:42:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/41 "2024-06-03T05:59:04Z")
I voted for her in the general election and would do so again today. Where I messed up was in the primary. Here in Texas, we can choose either party regardless of how we’re registered. I took the Republican ballot and voted for Trump thinking he’d be the easiest nominee for Clinton to beat. Clearly that was a mistake. If I had a redo, I’d have taken the Democratic ballot and voted for Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/42 "2024-06-03T06:09:36Z")
I used to know an 80 year old man George in my neighborhood. He showed me how to make liquor with grape juice and hair tonic like he did in Korea. He was a chemist by profession so clearly had expertise. it’s too bad such practices go out of style. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/43 "2024-06-03T06:10:43Z")
Why do we overthink this? Every vote counts. It’s been beat in my head since I turned 18. Always vote for your preferred party and candidate. If we’ve learned anything from Gore and Bush you can’t game the system. No matter what, get out the vote. Don’t think your vote doesn’t count. How do you think red states turn blue? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/44 "2024-06-03T06:15:47Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I have a deep allergy for bloodline-slash-family legacies in what are supposed to be democracies. I think there is a strong and unhealthy susceptibility in people, in the aggregate, to desire and support aristocratic inheritance of power. Just listen to the chatter about recruiting various relatives into politics, from Don Jr to Michelle Obama or even the Obama daughters, all of which strikes me as thoroughly insane and totally poisonous to democracy. I think that tendency should be resisted and avoided whenever and wherever possible, so just on principle I didn’t like voting for another Clinton. Fully agreed. Hillary Clinton wasn’t my ideal candidate by a long shot, but barring an international incident (she was always a little too hawkish for my taste) she likely would have been blandly competent president by my standards. Trump wasn’t even a question, though as with others I had hopes he’d just be a blandly vulgar incompetent - sadly he was so much worse than that. Of course I’d vote for her again. No Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barret means legal abortion access is still the law of the land. Quite possibly no Kentanji Jackson, though. Even with a good COVID response I’m betting hers would have been a one-term regime. Four Democratic presidential terms in a row would have been a lot after the inevitable backlash. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/45 "2024-06-03T09:48:13Z")
I made a decision long ago not to vote in U.S. elections, but if I had known what I know now I might have made an exception and voted for her - although I’m still registered in New York, so it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/46 "2024-06-03T11:05:33Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Eighty isn’t as old as it used to be, young’un. 🧐 Eighty is the new seventy. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/47 "2024-06-03T12:08:35Z")
Happily voted for Hillary in 2016 and it was never in doubt. I hand delivered my ballot for the primary as everyone on this board knows how much I despise Bernie Sanders. I used a screenshot of my ballot as my phone background for a year after Trump won that election. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/48 "2024-06-03T16:25:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > What would you do if you could go back to 2016 and try again? > > So far only one person would have not voted for her. I’d definitely vote for her again. But I have a question - what do we know now that we didn’t know then would you think might encourage anyone to change their vote to Trump? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/49 "2024-06-03T16:31:08Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > I thought he was just pandering to his base and wouldn’t be so crazy as President. I suppose no one else here was so naive. I expected him to be _lazy_ as president. He never expected to win, and did no prep work for winning, and even after winning, had no idea how to organize his transition team. I expected him to do all the fun stuff of being president, while leaving the actual work to the VP and cabinet. God, was I wrong. I mean, he was still lazy as shit, but he also wanted to have his fingers in every pie, even if it meant they had to dumb everything down for him. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/50 "2024-06-03T16:35:24Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I expected him to be _lazy_ as president Me too. And I really thought he had no core principles he wanted to advance. I still think he doesn’t give a fuck about his wall, or immigration in general. Or anything else actually, but he really does see right wing asshole behavior as his ticket to success. And, that matches up with his world view and personality, so I guess that’s why it works ---
**Author:** ![TheZenPaperboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@TheZenPaperboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheZenPaperboy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/51 "2024-06-03T17:11:26Z")
I would have still voted for the person I did. The secondary reasons were that I had a servere dislike for Trump and Hillary and at that time the thiird party was the best use of my vote. As far as changing my vote to Hillary I knew then and know now that my vote would not change anything. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/52 "2024-06-04T06:20:38Z")
I was disgusted with the fact that the Democratic Party decided she would be the candidate by fiat without any serious party contenders. It took someone from outside the party to give her a run. If there was a full slate of candidates on the D side 2016 may have turned out different. I voted third party and probably would again. I had the luxury to make my little ineffectual protest. Clinton won my state by 14 points. If I lived in a state where it mattered I would have held my nose and voted for Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/53 "2024-06-04T17:16:59Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > he really does see right wing asshole behavior as his ticket to success. When the question about whether he was racist came up in 2016 I argued with someone, he might be a racist or might not – I don’t know enough to tell. But the _racists_ think he’s a racist and that alone is reason not to vote for him. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/54 "2024-06-04T18:53:47Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > How do you think red states turn blue? Holding their breath too long? ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/55 "2024-06-04T19:11:32Z")
Of course I would vote for Hillary in 2016. I did, in fact, vote for her in the general. My sin, however, is that I crossed lines for the GOP primary and voted for Trump in the primary because I believed him to be a ‘joke’ candidate that no one would take seriously enough to actually vote for. Serves me right. What has happened since 2016 is ALL my fault. Blame me. I put Trump there. It was my doing. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/56 "2024-06-04T19:13:13Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Hillary Clinton wasn’t my ideal candidate by a long shot, but barring an international incident (she was always a little too hawkish for my taste) she likely would have been blandly competent president by my standards. I agree with this. Her disdain for the public irked me (“What, like with a cloth or something?”), and her attitudes to the El Salvador coup were antidemocratic and alarming; but I’m fully used to voting for people who are gross in order to prevent much grosser people from getting into power, and she was certainly a capable politician who could have done a superb job as president even if she were doing things I disliked. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/57 "2024-06-04T19:13:41Z")
Damn you **Cardigan** , look what your Hubris has caused! :shakesfist: ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/58 "2024-06-04T19:15:34Z")
It was entirely my fault. Mine and mine alone. No one has ever been as guilty as I am in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/59 "2024-06-04T19:30:58Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was disgusted with the fact that the Democratic Party decided she would be the candidate by fiat > [@JRDelirious](#): > > internal apparatus should have avoided the _appearance_ of presumptive anointment and thumbs-on-the-scales in the lead-in to nomination. Oh, how I wish the Republicans had a party apparatus that would have tilted the nomination towards a normal politician who had put in the time and effort to become an insider. Alas, 'tis but a dream. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419/60 "2024-06-04T20:11:51Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > a party apparatus that would have tilted the nomination towards a normal politician who had put in the time and effort to become an insider A worthy thing to have indeed. You won’t hear me diss the superdelegates. As long as you don’t make it _look_ like you were saying _this one_ normal insider is _the one_ . Mind you, many actually wished Obamaworld had bothered grooming a good slate of alternate normal-but-“new” insiders, so there would be a choice beyond just O’Malley (Webb and Chaffee withdrew before the primaries). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-knew-then-what-you-know-now-would-you-vote-for-hillary-in-2016/1002419.md?page=4)