The first election I clearly remember was the 1992 election. I was 15 at the time, and I remember being shocked that Clinton won. My thought process at the time was that Reagan had won easily in 1980 and 1984 and Bush won easily in 1988, so why wouldn’t the Republicsns keep winning easily? The first time I voted was for Clinton in the 1996 election.
Nixon-McGovern, 1972. I was 9.
My entire family worked for McGovern - we’re Californians, and my parents hated Nixon. (My brothers were “bird dogs,” going door-to-door looking for unregistered likely McGovern voters, my oldest brother followed up registering voters, and Mom worked a phone tree. I don’t remember Dad doing much - he worked all the time.)
The first presidential candidate I voted for was, sadly, Walter Mondale - a lackluster man badly outshone by the glittering generality that was Ronald Reagan.
I remember the Al Gore /Bush Florida debacle in 2000 when I was 10.
I voted in 2008 at 18.
Another anecdote from the 68 election: in my preschool election I wanted to vote for Nixon because his name reminded me of kitty whiskers. But instead I voted for Wallace because his name seemed strong like a wall.
Fast forward to later in the afternoon. My mom was going across the street tp vote and I told her I had already voted. She asked me who I voted for and when I said Wallace I didn’t think I would hear the end of it.
The first election I remember is the 1984 Presidential Election. I was 10yrs old and my family were all Reagan supporters. So it was a regular topic of discussion.
My first time voting was in the 1992 Presidential Election. I turned 18 a few months prior to the election. I voted for Bill Clinton (and again in 1996…and will vote for Hillary in 2016).
The candidates I supported (and voted for) have won each election except 2000, 2004 and 2008. I actually voted Republican in 2008 because I have always had a lot of respect for John McCain. I think he would have won if not for that witch he picked as a running mate! I voted for Obama in 2012 because I felt he was the better candidate.
The first election I remember was the Bush/Dukakis election in 1988. I was 6. I couldn’t understand why we would be voting for people other than Reagan, because, obviously, he was supposed to be President. I was also very concerned what would happen after that election, because the wall at my school was already filled up with pictures of Presidents, and obviously you couldn’t have had more Presidents than there were spots on the wall for their pictures.
I feel like my concerns as a first grader about the Presidential race were about as valid ones as most of the ones I’ve heard since then.
I first voted in the Bush/Gore race of 2000. That was my first, and it seems to be likely, last time voting for a major party candidate.
The first one I remember was 1968 (I have vague memories of the Republican convention, but not the Democratic one); I was six at the time.
The first election I voted in was the 1980 California primary in June. Normally, I don’t like saying whom I voted for (“that’s why it’s a secret ballot”), but I like to joke, “I voted for Reagan four times, and not one of them mattered when I did it” (the two primaries were long after he wrapped up the nomination, and in the two general elections, they didn’t have the “wait until the polls close in a state before projecting a winner there” rule, so Reagan was projected as the winner quite early - just before 8 PM Eastern in 1980, IIRC).
Pretty much the same for me, date-wise. Because I registered in 1982 and had been generally appalled by Reagan from the first time I heard him speak, I have always been a registered Democrat.
I do remember, though, preferring Ford over Carter in 1976 and John Anderson in 1980. As a Jew, I found Carter’s overt Southern Baptist religiosity kind of off-putting, and Reagan’s embrace of the Conservative Evangelical/Moral Majority crowd was even worse (we had moved to Alabama in 1977, so I lived in the middle of that poison).
Kennedy v. Nixon (other than the televised debates I don’t remember much)
10
1972 Presidential Election, for McGovern
Gary Johnson (Libertarian) is polling in the double digits in some areas. Based on the information I can find, 1.07% of the popular vote is the most a Libertarian candidate has ever managed (and that was in 1980).
There is obviously a desire for a party that takes most of the best parts of the two existing parties and combines them. A party liberal on social issues (gay marriage and abortion, for example) but fiscally conservative like the Republicans. I hope to see a Libertarian elected in my lifetime (I’m 41, so it could happen).
I’m also sick of the argument (from both sides) that a third political party would be detrimental to our country. I’m thinking that the majority of voters would migrate toward a more middle-of-the-road candidate.
I proudly identify myself as a Libertarian, but I feel obligated to vote for Hillary to ensure that Trump doesnt’ win. Granted, he’s doing a great job of losing on his own, but that man can NOT be our President,…it simply can’t be allowed to happen! :eek:
lol
I kind of feel like voting the opposite way because Hillary just can NOT be out president, either. On the other hand, my vote and yours statistically don’t matter, so we’re both better off just staying at home and not voting.
Except… we have a lot of local elections, too, where our votes – while not decisive – tend to have greater statistical weight.
Since we’re both libertarians, and since we’re both going to go to the polls, let’s both just vote for Johnson, why don’t we? Let’s get those numbers up, even if he can’t win.
Oh, there’s little doubt that when I throw my vote away this election, it’ll be to Johnson. But I think you’re delusional if you really think a Libertarian will be elected in your lifetime. Possibly a congressman or a governor. Somewhat less likely, a senator.
Even Johnson’s campaign’s most optimistic hope for his election involves a convoluted plotline where Johnson wins a state or two, neither Hillary nor The Donald win a majority of electors, and the House appoints Johnson President out of sheer disgust. As vastly unlikely as that is, it’s a likelier scenario in this election cycle than it likely ever will be.
1964, Johnson vs Goldwater. I was ten.
Voted for Nixon in '72.
I have the vaguest hints of Reagan’s 1984 victory lap. I was 5/6, and there wasn’t much of an election.
I definitely remember Bush v Dukakis in 1988 when I was 9/10. One political cartoon is especially memorable with the two of them slinging mud at each other while not noticing they’re waist-deep in mud together. I also remember Dukakis in the tank, the revolving prison door commercial, and a few others.
I turned 18 in time for '96. Clinton was going to win California anyway, so I voted Perot.
I recall having several “I Like Ike” buttons though I’m pretty sure my dad didn’t vote for him. My Mom might have so I might have gotten them from her. But we lived in a very Republican neighborhood, so I could have gotten them from some neighbor. I’m sure my memory is from the 1956 election (age 7) not the 1952 election.
I remember the 1960 election quite well. I remember “Nix on Nixon” buttons. Interestingly I don’t recall any Kennedy promotional items though I know my parents both voted for him.
I voted in the 1970 elections after I turned 21 (required age in those days). My first Presidential election was 1972. I’ve voted in every general election since 1972 and most primaries.
I would LOVE to vote for Johnson! The Libertarian Party will never make significant progress and be taken seriously as a third political party unless we vote for Libertarians. But if it looks like Hillary could possibly win Georgia, I will vote for her. I can’t imagine a worse outcome than Trump as POTUS! :smack:
I keep thinking of the idiom, “Better the devil that you know…” That’s why I think Hillary is the lesser of two evils.
Regarding your comment that “our votes statistically don’t matter”, are you referring to the Electoral College? If so, that’s a whole 'nother topic! The popular vote represents the will of the people, plain and simple. Anything else defies logic…
I remember “I like Ike” buttons, so that would have been in 1956, so, second grade for me, 7 years old.
After the 1972 election, they changed the voting age from 21 to 18, so it was still 21 for the Nixon-McGovern election that I first participated in a Presidential election, at the age of 23.