# What is most important when voting for President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 10, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618 "2000-02-10T19:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![H8\_2\_W8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c77e96/32.png) [@H8\_2\_W8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H8_2_W8)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618/1 "2000-02-10T19:32:00Z")
In order, I’d say: A) Leadership Experience B) Fiscal Steward (i.e. lower taxes, less spending) C) Long-range Vision/Plans/Supreme Court appointments D) Character/Honesty E) Foreign Affairs Experience (as opposed to affairs w/Interns - couldn’t help it) Of these, I’m left confused. Bush isn’t that strong in any of them, and probably very weak in (E). I would worry about his appointing overly conservative SC justices © and that he’s not ready to be Prez but is loaded with campaign cash and powerful friends due to his dad. (Hell, my dad helped me get a summer job during college, but never anything this this!) McCain doesn’t really have (A) that well and I’d have the same SC justices concern © as with Bush, since I think there needs to be a liberal/conservative balance. He would, however, excel in (B), (D) and (E), which may be enough. Bradley seems to have decent (A) leadership experience and © SC justice, race, environment, etc. positions could be a good balance to a Republican Congress. I’d be very worried about being (B) taxed more and having those taxes wasted on “Big Government” programs (income distribution). Gore would have the highest rating for (A) leadership, and his © long-range and SC appointees would be pluses and (E) would be solid due to his current position. (B) would be a minor concern, although not as badly as Bradley, but (D) is almost a deal breaker for me due to his past campaign finance near-scandals. I suppose I could narrow it down to McCain and Gore, but I don’t know from there. What criteria do others use? ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618/2 "2000-02-10T19:52:00Z")
Do any of them make you think your life will be better with them as president. Do any of them make you think they will make a bad president based on what you have seen from them while previously in office. A vote sometimes comes down to a feeling of who might do a better job, because until a candidate gets into office and actually has to be a president, neither they or anyone else has a strong idea of how they will handle the pressures, decision-making, delegating, etc. And, no, I don’t think being a vice-president is necessarily representative of how a person would do as a president. The scrutiny and pressure levels are a whole different level. * * * Have you voted for your favorite, huggable Mullinator today? ---
**Author:** ![Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618/3 "2000-02-10T20:02:00Z")
This is quite the great debate!! * * * -Frankie “Mother Mercy, can your loins bear fruit forever?/Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?” -Bad Religion ---
**Author:** ![batgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@batgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618/4 "2000-02-10T20:16:00Z")
I usually go with the lesser of two evils: I’m not particularly crazy about either candidate, but I think one is less likely to screw things up than the other one. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618/5 "2000-02-10T20:28:00Z")
_What is most important when voting for President?_ Not dropping your flipping coin while voting. 😃 Really though:[ul][li]Moral character. Even though I thought the whole Monicagate was none of our beeswax, I’d rather have a President that didn’t do that sort of thing.[/li][li]Past performance in whatever public office they held before.[/li][li]Personality, in that they’re not a bland, uninspirational drone.[/li][li]Who is the VP candidate? This is probably what killed Bush Sr’s re-election. Against Dukakis, a brick for a VP would’ve won. But against Clinton/Gore, GHWB should’ve got another VP. It’s been done in the past, so Bush shouldn’t have worried about hurting Danny’s feelings.[/li][/ul] * * * What would Brian Boitano do / If he was here right now / He’d make a plan and he’d follow through / That’s what Brian Boitano would do. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-most-important-when-voting-for-president/13618/6 "2000-02-10T20:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Bush isn’t that strong in any of them, and probably very weak in (E). I would worry about his appointing > overly conservative SC justices © and that he’s not ready to be Prez but is loaded with campaign cash > and powerful friends due to his dad. (Hell, my dad helped me get a summer job during college, but > never anything this this!) > > ``` > McCain doesn't really have (A) that well and I'd have the same SC justices concern (C) as with Bush, > since I think there needs to be a liberal/conservative balance. He would, however, excel in (B), (D) and > (E), which may be enough. > > ``` With Supreme Court justices, this may not really be so hard and fast. Granted Nixon’s appointees such as Rehnquist and Burger have been conservative, but O’Connor (appointed by Reagan) and Souter (Bush) have quite often broken with the conservatives on the Court. Somehow _SC Justices_ doesn’t rate as a really good criterion.