Why are you voting the way you are?

[Mackay]

Call it morbid curiosity. It seems like most of you are voting Romney and I just don't really get it. It seems (from the outside) as though his social policies are detrimental and economically he's basically going to be the same. I assume there is a lot of economic nuance/policy I've not read about and I'd love to learn more.

I'm also interested in Obama voters' rationales, mostly because it seems like the left has had a huge whiplash from idealism to disillusionment to grudging acceptance with regard to what he has been able to achieve, and everyone is at a different spot on that roller coaster.

Any third party voters? Non-voters who are doing it on principle/apathy? I'm interested.

Also, tell me where you are and what the political climate is like in your state/area. (If you don't mind.) I only get pieces of what is going on - I've read a lot about, say, Wisconsin, but would have no idea what's been going down in Kansas or North Carolina, for instance.

Because turnabout is fair play, my vote would be for Obama were I a US citizen (I'm sure you're all shocked), but mostly due to the lack of a preferential voting system. Under the Aus system I'd vote for a leftist third party and preference Obama over Romney. My reasons for voting for him would be mostly self-interested or social - healthcare, women's health issues, women's rights, gay rights, and income inequality are big issues for me.

Talk to me about American politics! Federal, state, local, I love hearing about it.

[Buzzsaw]

I can't talk about politics without getting frustrated to the point of being angry, and am not informed enough about current political events to effectively debate any issues.

[MNOWAX]

I have said this before, If Romney is elected, We, as a nation, should no longer be allowed to vote.
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The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[Dread Pirate Westley]

I will be writing in my own name because I'm quite disgusted with the whole process. Truthfully, I shouldn't be voting at all, since I declared myself an independent empire in 2004 (All hail God-Emperor Chris!). If forced to vote for one of them, I'd pick Obama in an instant for much the same reasons as you.

I probably wouldn't bother at all except my Representative actually has someone running against her (I've voted for the blank spot opposing her every time). Four times a year, she sends a mailing to everyone in the district listing her "achievements," including votes cast. On average, I agree with her position once a year.

Illinois is safely in the Democrats' hands, but I'm guessing the map come the 7th will look similar to the governor's election two years ago: the Democrat won four counties...and the statewide popular vote.

[Neo]

I already voted for Obama.

There was a point in time when Romney and Obama really weren't that different. But the Republicans have courted the tea party extremists to the point that I'm not sure there's a single bit of their platform that isn't just "Fuck you!" Right now the GOP seems to think that most of the country needs to go away. Whether that's women, us poor people who happen to live below the poverty line, or homosexuals. Also I don't think Romney could have had an international trip more disastrous than the one he took before the Olympics without somebody dying. I will admit though, at some point during this campaign Romney had my views on a number of topics, but that moment probably only lasted a few minutes.

I voted for Obama in Kansas though, so my vote doesn't count. I also happened to notice that one of my congressmen was running unopposed. He's a Republican and has been called the #1 anti-homosexual congressman. I've also met him and he's a total douche. So I wrote myself in. Then I convinced my family to do the same. Suddenly I'm running a pseudo-write in campaign just a couple weeks before the election. I've secured about 50ish votes for sure. It's pointless, tbh.

You know what? Screw it. Cthulhu 2012! Why vote for the lesser evil?
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_{Ad Astra}

[The Potter]

If I do bother to cast a vote, it will be for Ron Paul. I like him because I don't think he wants to be president. Also he is willing to take a little time to read and understand the US constitution.

Obama is frustrating to me because he sold out his values and played the party games.
Romney seems like a psychopath. I think he is very out of touch with world.

So in Alaska, nobody was really staking the "Candidate X" signs in their yard. In Oregon I have seen mostly Romney signs (which kinda confuses me). But they are also rare. I am getting the impression that people just don't care.
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Artwork | Fractals | Don't ignore your dreams; don't work too much; say what you think; cultivate friendships; be happy.

[groza528]

I won't be voting this year. This is mainly due to having recently moved to Texas and missing the deadline to register. But this is Texas, so I doubt it's going to have any effect.

I've mentioned to a few people that I wish we had a preferential vote system. If we did I would definitely vote for Ron Paul. In Texas, I'd probably vote Ron Paul anyway because what the hell difference does it make. But of the two major candidates-- I don't like either of them, but I'd vote for Romney. The one thing for which he is most regularly the butt of jokes is precisely what we need most right now: he knows how to handle a dollar.

[LordKinbote]

Obama, definitely. I honestly can't see how cutting taxes for everyone and then closing loopholes is anything more than hand waving. Such a plan to reduce the deficit doesn't hold up to any kind of scrutiny.

I honestly predict that the economy is going to slowly recover by itself no matter who is in charge. So that leaves foreign policy, where Romney's policy is "I'll do what Obama did, but better" and social issues, where Romney stands against most of the things I believe in (gay marriage, women's right to choose).

Am I as gung-ho about my candidate as I was four years ago? No. But anyone who was expecting a panacea to the country's problems was bound to be disappointed. We're getting back on track; this stuff just takes time.

[Thok]

[Death Mage]

I'm voting the way I'm voting becuase it just seems more proper to actually go into the poling places on election day rather than vote early via absentee ballot. I mean, I've had to use an absentee ballot before, when I was going to be out of town on election day, that's what they're for. Maybe even groza can acquire one for his old residence since he's not eligible for his current one yet, after all the laws are not really designed to prevent people from getting their one legal vote. But since I am not currently planning on being unavailable vote this election day, I will cast mine in the booths, along with most other people.

That's what you were asking, right?
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[Jedo the Jedi]

Not voting. I can't seem to find the lesser of two evils.
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Paragon Tally: 19 mafia, 3 SKs (1 twice), 1 cultist, numerous chat scum...and counting.

[Quailman]

Obama is spending the country into oblivion. Romney has run real businesses where he had to balance the budget. I think he'll be willing to make steep cuts in his best efforts to balance it. We can't afford to keep running huge deficits like the last four years. As de Toqueville said, the democratic republic is doomed as soon as the politicians discover tbat they can bribe the people with their own money.

Obama has taken great pride in rescuing the auto industry. He did nothing for Ford, other than strengthening its two main competitors. And all he did for them was write the checks. I strongly disagreed when Bush put the plan in motion. These are private businesses that have been crippled in no small part by unions. Bankruptcy is the answer. Oh, by the way, when the government put all that money in, the reorganization process kicked in anyway.

I disagree with the Republican platform on women's right to chose. I'm surprised that they haven't decided to compromise and provide publicly funded abortions to democrats.

Obama keeps talking about putting veterans to work rebuilding bridges and roads. Give me a break. The government doesn't create jobs (not private sector jobs anyway), private companies create jobs. Democrats don't seem to grasp this. They want to tax the shjite out of people who successfully run businesses.

[The Great Crep'er]

If the poll was still open, I'd be voting for Obama. Admittedly out of revenge for the stagnant state that Congress has put a majority of Democratic action into. It has devolved from a debate based on fundamentals to one with many shorthanded criticisms and venom spewing from each side. You want to villainize a President? Go for the one that tapped phones, attacked private citizens, and bailed out companies that were spending their bailout funds on selfish needs.

And Republicans like to criticize the hell out of Obama for his spending habits and fail to realize that there is a correlation between that and restructuring taxes for businesses and the upper class and that it takes more than just a few short years (as well as one of the most divided governments in American history) to recover from a puppet candidate who endorsed costly war and healthcare and cared more about the welfare of business than those in the bottom tiers.
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Potato. Belgium. Eight. Random Lynch # Mafia awaits.

[DejMar]

[Buzzsaw]

I don't know who DejMar is but I like them.

[Zag]

I'm a little tired of this fiction that the Republicans are more fiscally responsible than the Democrats. In spite of taking over an economy in freefall, Obama's administration has seen a slower increase in the national debt than W. Of the last 5 Presidents, name the one who saw the LEAST increase in national debt, and actually ran a surplus in some years: Clinton.

Tell me again how the Republicans are more fiscally responsible?

[Hitchhiker]

Just had to share:

Whedon on Romney

[The Ragin' South Asian]

Washington is fairly safe for Obama. I'll probably vote third party/write in.

[Undercover Monk]

Im a republican so...yeah Romney.

I do consider myself a moderate though and would listen to Obama more if it wasnt the same thing he told us in 2008. While is he not held accountable for his failures. Plus Im for cutting spending across the board and raising taxes. If Im in debt guess what I have to get a second or better job and stop eating out more. How is that such a hard thing for democrats to understand...republicans too for that matter.
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The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[LordKinbote]

[Undercover Monk]

hence what I said at the end of the post. No politician wants to raise taxes across the board. Democrats tell middle america they will raise taxes on the rich because those rich guys are not human or american so we can afford to give everyone free stuff at the expense of the rich....

can you see why I hate democrats and dont accuse me of being rich til recently I worked at Mcdonalds for minimum wage.
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The Classic Blunders:
1. never get involved in a land war in Asia
2.Never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
3. Never release Peyton Manning

[LordKinbote]

[Scurra]

The US has the same problem as the UK,but it manifests itself more obviously in the Presidential election because of the Electoral College. But essentially,at the moment if you don't live in Ohio, your vote pretty much doesn't matter (except in the broadest sense.) Most of the states are larely set - if California doesn't vote Democrat then there are bigger problems than just the election! - and those that swing around are mostly too small to really have an impact because they will tend to offset each other. (I know that some states have a proportional college vote: I think this moderately benefits the Republicans but again it doesn't seem significant enough to change things.).

All I know is that it doesn't really matter what the "truth" is (if there can be such a thing, but that's a different argument); party politics is dangerously like religion: most people stick with what they have been brought up to believe, and very few people can objectively examine their own prejudices - not even the candidates, apparently...
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[LordKinbote]

[The Potter]

[Dread Pirate Westley]

No, you've got that backwards. She should vote for whoever wins this thread so we actually count.

[itisally]