The mid-term elections are coming up this November. Most of us will have primaries before that. How will you cast your vote? On what basis will you make your decision?
(I was going to do this as a poll, but there are too many answers possible.)
BLUE. But I'm in Arkansas, so it won't matter. But I still vote in every election I can.
I’m going to suggest somthing painful. Something that Robert Reich put forth... If you’re in a location so red that there is absolutely no chance of a Democrat winning you might do more for progressive ideals by registering as a Republican so you can vote for the most moderate Republican possible... I know it taste like shoe polish. One must think of all of the possible ways to move the country forward. That said, if there is any real chance that a Democrat could win your state don’t do that My preference would be to eradicate Republicans from every office at every turn but we also have to be smart.
@ArdentAtheist Just had a friend in ‘another state’ actually run as a ‘moderate Republican’ in their primary, as Democrats don’t win in her demographic. Fortunately, she & her husband are wealthy, so funded her campaign. She lost
I appreciate your suggested strategy of switching party affiliation in order to effect the other side ..nice. As our primaries around here are ‘open,’ I may have to see what the R’s have going on ...I know who the Dems will chose
@ArdentAtheist if only we had moderate Republicans...
@Sara72712 yea, that could be a problem. But there are places that this makes sense... I’m proud to report I don’t live in one of them.
Environmental protections, women's rights, human rights and animal rights. In other words, Blue across the board.
I'm a registered independent ,but so far the Democrats have always had my vote. as long as the Republican Party stands for the evengelical right ,and all its wedge issues, doesn't look like I'll be voting for any Republican anytime soon. Third party candidates are no go for me.
Remember: NOT VOTING IS A VOTE!!!!!
Not voting is apathy, perhaps the greatest enemy of democracy.
I’ll vote straight Democratic ticket. On some levels I do like the Libertarian party but when push comes to shove I’ve never been able to vote for any of them as they’ve either been idiots or I simply did not want to cast my vote to the wind. I like the idea of 3rd party but in reality I want my vote to have an impact for what I want and not simply against what I don’t. I voted for Obama, I voted for Hillary and I sent some of my hard-earned money to Bernie. Voting 3rd party is just going to swing the vote for a mainstream candidate so far better to vote for the mainstream candidate so if nothing else you know exactly who and what you are voting for. Help someone real get in office and kick every republican out at every opportunity. I’ve kind of decided that being a libertarian is kind of like being a Catholic, it’s putting your heart and mind into something that doesn’t exist.
@SallyMcn What I like about libertarianism is the personal responsibility however as I stated… I don’t vote for them because I don’t think what they want would actually work… I simply said I liked some of the ideals… But I’m a Democrat… What I’m really saying is that to become a Democrat I didn’t simply become a Democrat, I gave it a lot of thought. The other important point that I was trying to make was to not throw your vote away on a third-party.
I'm in the UK so can't really join in but a few years ago when my eldest daughter was about 3 or 4 we took her along to the polling station when we voted. She saw that we put a cross by whoever we were voting for and told her the one with the most votes wins.
So she thought for a moment and said 'So the one with the most kisses wins?'
Good Q’s. We’ve a primary coming up in VA, you can choose which party primary you want to vote in (new to me) The Dems have a young, sharp, Berniebot congressional candidate.. In time, perhaps he’ll mellow. His Democratic opponent (an eventual winner) will appeal to the ‘cross-over votes’ needed in the general election, not near as radical. I’ll be voting for him..
I doubt a poll would inform us of more than what’s become evident; Republicans have harvested the religious, thus will get few votes from ‘around here.’ The Democrats promote scientific and cultural advancement, and will likely have ‘our support.’
I don't know brother... they're all full of crap. Lie out their ass.
Indeed. It's difficult not to let cynicism and apathy win the day.
In the mid-terms mostly to break the Republican hold on the legislature. Once that's done, if it is, I'd love to break both parties hold on politics. they're both corrupt!
I will vote for the candidates who are (1) most likely to act responsibly to make our governments serve us well, (2) most likely to act on behalf of ALL of our people, (3) most likely to act with honor, integrity, honesty, and morality, (4) most likely to act to preserve and strengthen the integrity of our democracy. At this point, I see very few, if any Republicans who deserve my vote.
We have our primaries in a couple weeks. I watched one of the democratic gubernatorial debates the other day. Decided I definitely don't like one of the three candidates. James Smith seems pretty slimy. He's one of those politicians who mentions his military service every two minutes. His opponent Marguerite Willis asked him why he sends his kids to private school. Unfortunately, I think he will win the primary, so I will vote for him over the Republican candidate.
I will vote for any pro cannabis candidate assuming they are not a member of a hate organization.
As most of my issues have been resolved over the last 40 years, except for the lunatic currently in the Executive Mansion, cannabis is the most important issue as the illegality of it has filled our profitable prisons with non violent stoners. The most dangerous element of this plant from god is its illegality. This plant was errorniously lumped in with Class A drugs after prohibition was lifted for the violent drug alcohol, the white man's drug of choice.
You are a stranger asking personal questions... the vote is secret. What are you census?
Contrary to popular belief, nothing precludes you from telling someone how you voted or how you will vote.
@lerlo Oh Yeah. It is up to me. And Nope is my final answer.
I will vote in general. Probably not in primary.
Your choice ... but most folks around here gripe constantly about the need for ‘a third party.’ The primary election is our only real opportunity to direct either party. I have a choice, a firebrand liberal or a seasoned liberal. If it ended up a 3 way race, the regressive Republican would win. As is, the choice of the people between the two Dems will give the final choice for progressive voters..
Also, there are often other things going on ...bond levy's, judges, school board members, sheriff, citizens initiatives.. What’s wrong is this voting on a work day crap! In Oregon, my home state, they’ve been voting by mail for decades. What’s happened? It’s vivid Blue! This needs to be an option across the nation. In VA, backward as all-get-out in my opinion, I use a valid reason and opportunity to ‘vote early’ … I’ve not even been inside my precinct
I vote Republican, because in my opinion the Democrats do not believe in freedom.
So Democrats are proposing making slaves out of the general population?
Just for kicks, Democrats generally support: Freedom for a woman to decide what she does with her body, freedom for deferred action for childhood arrivals, freedom of the press, freedom against racism, freedom to marry and have sex with who you want, freedom to have assistance in killing yourself, even freedom to own a gun with regulations, regulations like all the other freedoms have (check out the Heller case written by your King Scalia, you don't get to have any type of gun you want).
What you mean is that they don't support the freedoms YOU think people should have, like the right to torture people, the right to discriminate against people you don't like, the right to kill as many people at one time as you want, the right to grope any woman you want, the right to pay men more than women, the right to trample the environment without paying taxes to rejuvenate it etc. Right?
Simplistic. Thus is HE "loves the poorly educated".
I'll vote Libertarian wherever possible.
I strongly considered that position, it’s not where I landed but I understand the sentiment.
the problem with Libertarians is that they would never get anything done because they're still arguing over how small that small government should be and what government programs should be cut, what taxes could be cut ..........I don't think they're legitimate party.
if you vote libertarian you basically believe that trickle down theory of Economics work. that without interference people will always do the right thing ,and that's complete b***. Libertarians are no different from Evangelical right-wing Republicans. different party same philosophy
I imagine I'll do it the same way I would if I had to choose "death by fire or falling or falling on fire" make the decision at the last moment. It's really not that different anymore
Contrary. It is more different than ever. Anti choice. Anti cannabis Anti guns Anti EPA Anti Tax the Rich Anti Corporate Regulation. Anti Poor Child Aid Anti Immigrant Anti Wild Trophy Hunting Anti Farm Animal Welfare Anti Stem Cell Research..................ETCETERA