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Post by Noah on May 2, 2005 20:03:07 GMT -5
Every time there's a presidential election, campaigns thrust themselves aggressively at the fabled "undecided voter" -- that mythic character who has absolutely no party leaning whatsoever, and in fact never even realized there were different parties. Still, almost everybody does lean toward (and vote for) one particular party. It's always a big statement when you dislike your party's candidate so much that you vote for the opponent. But under certain circumstances, people will do it. A lot of Democrats voted for Reagan because they liked him. A lot of Republicans voted for Clinton for the same reason, or because he was considered a moderate. And a lot of Republicans voted for Gore and Kerry, too, because, come on.
So what would it take? Under what circumstances might you cross party lines in voting for President of the United States?
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Post by marie on May 3, 2005 17:42:20 GMT -5
If there were a candidate who ingnored all the democrat/republican, "conservative" and "liberal" bull shit. Titles only serve as invisable cloaks for people with monumentaly bad ideas and absolutely no resolve for getting anything done. It would take someone who is also fed up with the lack of vision prevailing in our societie's leadership. It would take someone who knows that shit kills and that eating your own doesn't make it the right thing above all things to indulge in.
I wonder if anyone else feels the way I do? Perhaps not but who cares.
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Katie
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by Katie on May 3, 2005 22:41:35 GMT -5
I doubt I would cross party lines for any person. IF the Republican party suddenly decided to embrace women's rights; keep religion out of government; back affirmitive action; support social programs; oppose capital punishment, wars, & guns ... well, then I might wobble. It's the basic platform that I'll vote for or against every time.
Katie
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Post by Shrugging Avatar on May 4, 2005 14:17:01 GMT -5
I think the question more relavant to me would be: is there anything that would make me stop crossing party lines? The answer is yes. What would that be, you ask? More than 2 dominant parties, and preferably at least one party that represented more than 50% of my views. I have heard a lot of arguments concerning why the 2 party system is actually a good thing, but I am still not sold. No matter which party is dominant I am still always in the minority and under represented.
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Post by Noah on May 4, 2005 19:59:38 GMT -5
I feel the same way -- some politicians represent me more than others, but I'm still more liberal than an elected official is likely to be. And I do wish the whole thing weren't dominated by the same two parties. (There's some interesting talk about this on the instant runoff voting thread.) But I also bristle when people say there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans. I think that's a convenient kind of cynicism, but it's just not true. I know it was my question, but I'm afraid my own answer is that nothing could make me vote for a Republican presidential candidate. Under very specific circumstances, it might be possible that I'd vote for a Republican candidate for a lesser office, but not president. On the other hand, if there were a third party I liked, it's entirely possible that I would cross that party line, and not vote Democratic. But short of instant runoff voting, I wouldn't deprive a Democrat of my vote by "protest voting" for a third party which is not viable. By the way, everyone is welcome to post questions on this board, for everyone else to answer. They're hard to think of! |
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Post by wowposter on Nov 8, 2008 6:46:42 GMT -5
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