Sorry if this has come up before, but I didn’t see another thread with quite my problem.
For reasons I won’t get into I am a registered Republican, although I almost always vote for a Democrat in the general election and intend to vote for either Clinton or Sanders come November. New York is a closed Primary, so I can only vote for a Republican candidate.
On Tuesday 4/19, which Republican should get my vote? My sister is in the same boat, and intends to hold her nose and vote for Trump. Her feeling is that he is almost sure to lose if he is the nominee in November. However, NY is strange in that while delegates are proportionally allocated it will be winner-take-all if a Republican gets 50% or more of the vote. My sister feels that a brokered convention might mean that Trump won’t be the nominee, so she wants to be sure he gets all of the Republican NY delegates.
Should I vote for <shudder> Trump? Does he have the best chance to lose in November? Do you feel there will be a brokered convention, which might mean a more viable candidate than Trump?
I wouldn’t vote for Trump or Cruz simply to advance an utterly unacceptable candidate. That’s just me. I wouldn’t think less of someone who did so, but I’d vote for Kascich or not vote at all.
If you really want to cause mischief to the GOP, trying to ensure he doesn’t get 50% would probably be better. It would theoretically reduce his chances of having the convention in the bag, and a non-Trump result from the convention would likely damage the party more.
I think it would be wonderful if there was always a positive choice - unfortunately, as we all know, sometimes we vote for the lesser of two evils. In this case NY has a closed primary so I cannot vote for the best candidate (in my opinion).
[QUOTE=Johnny Ace]
If you really want to cause mischief to the GOP, trying to ensure he doesn’t get 50% would probably be better. It would theoretically reduce his chances of having the convention in the bag, and a non-Trump result from the convention would likely damage the party more.
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[QUOTE=Procrustus]
I wouldn’t vote for Trump or Cruz simply to advance an utterly unacceptable candidate. That’s just me. I wouldn’t think less of someone who did so, but I’d vote for Kascich or not vote at all.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for these two opinions - my only other choice would be Kasich as well.
This is only one vote, but elections mean a lot to me - I can’t imagine skipping the primary, and really want to make some sort of difference.
Thanks again.
You can try theClaire McCaskill strategy of trying to build up the weakest opponent in the primary. It worked for McCaskill because her opponent, Todd Akin, made one of the stupidest comments in Missouri political history.
Here’s the thing, though. If Akin hadn’t stuck his foot in his mouth, the polls suggest he might very well have won. In other words, McCaskill’s strategy depended on the Akin campaign blowing itself up.
Now Donald Trump has already said things way more outrageous than Akin has ever come up with, and it only seems to help him in the polls. Therefore, I conclude he’s actually immune to the McCaskill strategy, and the only way to stop him is keep him from getting the nomination in the first place.
Vote for Kasich. That way neither Trump nor Cruz gets your help.
Thanks for leading me to Sen. McCaskill - I just ordered her book. Truly an inspiring politician!
And, I guess I am leaning towards Kasich. Hopefully Trump won’t receive more than 50%.
despite the abortion thing, he’d probably be a pretty decent president. That’s not true of Trump or Cruz.
a brokered convention will spell trouble for the Republican party whatever comes of it.
I usually vote democratic in the general election, but voted for Kasich in my state’s primary because i didn’t have a strong preference between the Democrats, but felt strongly that Kasich was the only decent choice on the other side.
This is no dilemma to me. My incentives are:
1: I want the Republicans to be thrown into chaos. The best route for this seems to be if Trump gets a strong plurality but not quite a majority, and then loses on a later ballot. The strong plurality part is already all but guaranteed, and the losing on a later ballot is also all but guaranteed, so the only part that needs action is to make sure that he doesn’t quite win the first-ballot majority. So to meet this incentive, I would want to vote for anyone but Trump (doesn’t matter who, so long as it keeps him from that magic number).
2: I want to vote for the best candidate in the field, so as to minimize the damage just in case they win, and to hopefully help steer the Republicans back to sanity. The best candidate in the field is not Trump. More specifically, it’s Kasich.
So the same vote will advance both of my incentives.
EDIT: I also considered voting in the Republican primary in my state, for this reason. But I decided that I’d rather spend my vote on the candidate I actually like best. And he won Ohio anyway.
