This is a curiosity coming from a country where since some years ago the percentage of participation to the elections was very high [today we are going towards American percentage too]. I have always found particular that more than the 40% of the US electors usually doesn't take part to the Presidential elections ... So, of course for American electors, will you vote for the President?
Most or all here will vote "yes" and yet there will still be low voter turnout, suggesting that polls don't mean (*)(*)(*)(*).
I'll vote. If other people don't vote, that's ok with me. I dislike the idea of herding lots of low information voters (idiots) through the polls. If someone thinks the Revolutionary War was fought between the U.S. and Germany, or if they can't name the current president, they should not be allowed to vote.
Would that be the party that SAYS they want smaller government or the party that delivers smaller government. Those would be two different parties over the last 15 years.
Vote early and often. Not really, but vote for whoever you like. Remember, if you don't vote you're voting FOR everybody. If you don't like anybody vote for a certain loser, because that is one more vote the winner will have to make up to win I've never missed an election, even a foregone primary, since I was able. I do it as an act of Dadaistic absurdity but I do it.
Well here is how I will play it. If Trump, Carson or Fiorina are the republican nominees I will very likely vote GOP. If not I will vote Libertarian or Green Party.
Yeah, I'll go vote even though it will just be another Clinton versus Bush scam. It gives me an excuse not to go to a bar and get drunk while the polls are open. After that I'll get drunk and everything else in the world will be the same as the day before. Our elections are nothing but a joke.
I will vote, but I may not vote for President unless there is someone I support on the Ballot. I do not vote for the person I just find the least offensive, but there are other races and issues on the ballots. "Electors" in the US generally refers to the state delegates to the Electoral College that actually cast the votes that determine the President/VP, not voters generally, under our strange system of indirect elections for President.
This is interesting. Actually we tend to forget it in Europe. It's a common thought that the Americans vote directly for the President, but that's not the reality. has it ever happened that the Great Electors changed the result of the general vote?
Actually I have left this poll to "its destiny" for a while just to evaluate the percentage of "NO". If you think well, in a political forum the persons interested [anyway] at least in a certain measure to politics [they are members of a political forum] who decide not to vote [already so sure not to vote more than a year before of the elections] are a very valuable sample. They are a representation of the "lost potential electors", that is to say US citizens with a certain political education, with an alive political interest, but not feeling that their vote is suitable. It's a damage for a political system ...
People who are into politics enough to frequent a political forum like this one are highly likely to vote. But I don't think people here are representative of the country at large.
No, this is clear, and this is why [as I was pointing out before] the percentage of the "politics lovers" members of this forum who have already decided not to vote is the really interesting data ...
I have voted in every election since 1964. But voter turnout has been poor, there could be a thousand reasons for that. But here is the turnout since 1952. 1952 61.6% 1956 59.3% 1960 62.8% 1964 61.4% 1968 60.7% 1972 55.1% 1976 53.6% 1980 52.6% 1984 53.3% 1988 50.3% 1992 55.2% 1996 49.0% 2000 50.3% 2004 55.7% 2008 57.1% 2012 54.9%
They are called faithless electors. Here is the wiki for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector Some states have made it a crime. They have not done so yet. Where it would be the most obvious would be if nobody gets sufficient electors to qualify as the VP or President. There would be some horse trading. If that does not work out then it goes to the Congress where the House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates whogot the most Electoral votes. Each state has only one vote. The Senate would elect the VP from the 2 Vice Presidential candidates with the most Electoral votes. Each Senator would cast one vote for Vice President. Even if someone wins the EC, technically the Senate confirms the President though it is more ceremonial than anything else.
Well, in Italy it was a legal duty to vote, so the percentages have been really high until that absurd law had abrogated [anyway note that in Australian there is still a law punishing who doesn't vote ...]. Without that law our percentages are becoming more and more "American". This allows to say that when vote is a free right and not a forced duty, there is a wide sector of the electorate [variable from 40% to 50%] which can simply ignore the election, thinking that it's irrelevant who enters the White House [or the palace of the government in Italy].
Personally I think the U.S. has way too many ill informed voters voting as is. My wife for example votes for the person who looks the most presidential. Others vote for party regardless who is their nominee which could be Genghis Khan. My son is like the ones you speak of who do not vote. He says Washington is going to do what Washington wants to do no matter who is in the white house or congress. In other words our so called elected representatives do not listen to the peoples wishes and do their normal business as usual routine which is rewarding the folks who give them money. Corporations, Wall Street Firms, Lobbyists, Special Interests etc. One can't afford to make those mad that gave you millions so you could run and win. Such is politics in the good old USA.
I'll vote, fully aware that neither candidate will be my ideal, and that the moneyed elite severely restrict the choices. Nevertheless, I'll go with whichever one better reflects my values and vision for the nation. There is alway a distinction, even if its a marginal one.
People who attend political forums like this are far more likely to vote than others. That's why the poll here is probably accurate.
It's because Americans are becoming lazier and lazier. Many are too lazy to stand in a line, stand in the cold, register to vote or even take the time to go to the poll. They don't vote, if able, then they shouldn't complain.
When in doubt vote for the one with the best looking wife. Guess that will leave out Hillary, Bush, and Biden.
