2016 Election Thread: Who are you voting for?

[Gecko]

OK, ladies and gentlemen. As we head towards election day, I thought it might be fun to throw around some political banter but a few rules first:

1) Please be respectful
2) No personal insults
3) If you feel yourself getting worked up and struggling with #1 or #2 above, take a break from the keyboard

What an election year it has been so far, and now we're just a little more than a month away from D-day. Polls are showing Clinton around 47% nationally and Trump around 41%, Johnson around 7% and Stein at 2%... who are you voting for and why?

 

[Gecko]

Personally, I am still somewhat undecided. What I know so far:

- I will not be voting for Trump
- I will not be voting for Stein
- I was going to vote for Gary Johnson but his Aleppo slip and then not being able to name a world leader that he admires were huge problems for me
- Casting a vote for Hillary makes me uncomfortable, but if the election looks tighter, I may vote for her as an anti-Trump vote.
- I would rather vote for a baked potato than any of these people.

 

[Brooks2IS]

Ditto on the baked potato. Probably should have written that in.

I early voted just a few days ago in my very first Presidential election. What a joyous first time for me.. I held my breath and voted Trump. No, he isn't my ideal candidate but I'm not sure that one exists. I voted Trump on the basis of Supreme Court Justices. I cannot stomach the idea of a stacked 7-2 Court leaning left. Justices are supposed to be party blind, I'm aware, but unfortunately that isn't the case in reality. Be it as it may, my life experiences thus far have me preferring more conservative values.

I totally understand the differing reasons people have for voting for each respective candidate-- all are unique and offer different world views to lead our country. I hope that my opinion will be equally respected (it isn't on college campuses!)

Thanks for this post.

 

[mmcartalk]

Good thread, Gecko......long overdue.

No offense to anyone in this forum who supports her, but, IMO, Hillary is corrupt and makes a used-car salesman look honest. From what I've seen, she's escaped indictment and prosecution, so far, generally because she has high-level political allies in the White House, FBI, and Justice Department that are blocking it.....also a generally friendly media. As a (mostly) conservative, I also agree with Brooks2IS that the Supreme Court is in the balance, and is too important to be left to Hillary. I don't particularly like the idea of voting for Trump, as he is an egotist, a blowhard, and sometimes doesn't know when to shut up. But, of the four candidates (Hillary, Trump, Johnson, and Stein), I personally think Trump's policies would be best (or at least less destructive) for the country at large than those of the other three candidates. And he does have, IMO, a superb running-mate in Mike Pence....easily the best of the four running-mates. So, for me, it looks like a (reluctant) vote for Trump...though, to be honest, I personally don't like his braggadocio personality/character, and I'll have to hold my nose while doing so.

 

[Tragic Bronson]

 

[IS-SV]

I voted by mail last week, for Hillary. Probably a typical vote from the highly diverse tech capital of the world (Silicon Valley). My extensive tech-oriented business background impacts my decisions on such matters

 

[mmcartalk]

- I would rather vote for a baked potato than any of these people.

Ditto on the baked potato.

 

[IS-SV]

^ I'll have my baked potato with broccoli and cheese please, yum.

 

[Gecko]

That's hilarious!

 

[mmcartalk]

Anybody here change their minds after the latest Trump video or Hillary E-mail fiascos?

 

[IS-SV]

Many (including me) already voted by mail before some of latest fiascos surfaced, not that it matters.

 

[mmcartalk]

Many (including me) already voted by mail before some of latest fiascos surfaced, not that it matters.

Some states allow early-voters, if desired, to change their votes up until Election Day. I don't know about CA, though, which, of course, has a huge number of voters, and probably a massive job counting them.

 

[IS-SV]

Some states allow early-voters, if desired, to change their votes up until Election Day. .

Yes, Trump is trying to get that message out, but in reality it rarely happens.

 

[mmcartalk]

I wasn't just referring to one side. In those states that allow it, anyone can change their early-vote up until actual election time. In fact, given the last-minute controversies plaguing both sides, IMHO it might not be a bad idea to cancel the election for 3 or 4 weeks or so to give both sides (and more early-voters) more time to address it. But I don't think that is going to happen....too many schedulings and reservations have already been made for Election Day, setting up the voting-booths.

 

[IS-SV]

I wasn't just referring to one side. In those states that allow it, anyone can change their early-vote up until actual election time.

Yes, I realize that although Trump was only high profile guy to mention it. But like I said above (not that it matters) because in reality it rarely happens.

 

[Gecko]

Early voted on Monday. Honestly, kind of glad to have my vote cast so that I can tune some of this stuff out.

This election season has been exhausting.

 

[IS-SV]

Negativity has been the main theme of this crappy election, glad when it's over.

 

[mmcartalk]

It's also been (arguably) the longest campaign season I can remember. ...even more so than in 2012. The early-filing for the primaries actually started in the late spring of last year.

I agree with Steve on the negativity, but that's at least partially due to the extreme unpopularity of both of the two main candidates (and the way the media reports on them)....something we basically have not seen before.

 

[Carmaker1]

OK, ladies and gentlemen. As we head towards election day, I thought it might be fun to throw around some political banter but a few rules first:

1) Please be respectful
2) No personal insults
3) If you feel yourself getting worked up and struggling with #1 or #2 above, take a break from the keyboard

What an election year it has been so far, and now we're just a little more than a month away from D-day. Polls are showing Clinton around 47% nationally and Trump around 41%, Johnson around 7% and Stein at 2%... who are you voting for and why?

As both a UK and U.S. citizen, I try to participate in the political process of both countries. I am voting absentee and already completed the task. Having personally met Trump years ago when I lived in Manhattan, I will absolutely not be voting for him for personal reasons on top of political reasons.

Not only that, I am very particular about LGBT rights, while his running mate is in opposition of that. So it is Clinton for me, even if she could hurt my wallet and that of my family a little bit in regards to U.S. income. That is my only issue with supporting her and that of supposed overly lax immigration.

Fortunately for us, much of our critical income is international nowadays, thus untaxable. Much of this Brexit drama pisses me off equally about the future of where I am, but that is another topic entirely.

 

[Gecko]

Not only that, I am very particular about LGBT rights, while his running mate is in opposition of that. So it is Clinton for me, even if she could hurt my wallet and that of my family a little bit in regards to U.S. income. That is my only issue with supporting her and that of supposed overly lax immigration.

I saw a meme a few months ago about how Trump hates everyone but the gays, so choosing Pence allowed him to complete his perfect paradigm of hatred. It made me chuckle because at least at a superficial level, it seems true.

I'm gay, so LGBT issues are important to me personally. I don't think Republicans stand a chance of winning another presidential election until they stop waging war on social issues - it's long gone now.

I also had this theory stemming from the 2008 election that we were starting to see the Republican party fracture and fall apart, and 2012 and 2016 have pretty much proven that to be true. I think it's part of the shift that led us to Trump as the nominee. Put simply, there are too many competing interests under the "Republican" label - evangelicals, moderates, tea party, libertarians, right-leaning independents, etc. These groups don't have enough in common to unite under the same voting bloc, and they tend to not show up when their candidate doesn't become the nominee. We started to see it in 2008, for sure in 2012, and then that led to this fracture and general anger that gave us Donald Trump.

Just my .02.