Does it matter who you vote for? I wanted mail in my ballot today but I couldn't make a decision, but then I live in California so it doesn't really matter, or does it? What do you guys think? Do you live in a swing state or not, and if you don't how much do you think your vote really matters? (This is not theoretical so please be pragmatic.) Also, are you sure of who you're going to vote for or are you still on the fence? Do we stand anything to gain by voting for 3rd parties we know won't win? Discuss.
If everyone has the attitude that their vote doesn't matter, that's when elections get messed up. It's a bit like seeing a fire but assuming someone else will call it in. I'd argue that your individual vote matters as much in a swing-state as it does in a sure-thing. Even in a swing-state, no election is going to be won or lost on a single vote but at the same time, every single vote in the thousands that win or loose elections count. On a similar note on third parties, your vote alone isn't (and shouldn't!) win them an election but thousands of lone votes could. Also, if a third party gets less than 1% of the vote, they'll be ignored. If they get 5% they're still not going to win anything but they might attract a little more public and media attention for next time. Minor parties have worked their way in to the big league in other places and while the binary US arena makes it even more difficult there, it isn't impossible.
Unless the vote is split evenly yours doesn't really "matter" in the sense that it won't change the outcome. That's pretty much never happened in a community as large as California. I've never looked at voting like that, I feel it's more an expression of oneself. Ignore who is expected to win, that doesn't matter at all. This is the problem that both Libertarians voting for Romney and Socialists voting for Obama have - they say that since Gary Johnson doesn't have a chance that it's a waste of a vote to support him, but this assumes that you're voting for the outcome. However if you're voting for outcome you shouldn't vote at all as it's a waste of time due to the very reason you stated - it won't change the outcome of the election. Instead I think you should vote for whoever best represents your views, regardless of their chance of winning. ie: it doesn't matter in terms of who wins, but it does from a personal perspective.
HonestJoe and Steady Pie pretty much said what I wanted to say. One thing I would like to add is that a major reason why Americans are generally dissatisfied with the government is because a large portion of the voters vote while uninformed (many Barack Obama supporters back in 2008 voting Obama because he was black is a testament to this) or as Steady Pie say, vote for the "lesser" of two evils (Republican or Democrats) instead of who they feel is the best. If nearly all Americans were informed voters and voted for who they felt was the best (along with an increase of voting turnout relative to population overall), we'd see a much better satisfactions rate with the government. Especially mid-term elections, which is horrible.
Is the Office of the Presidency the only office and issue on the ballot? ....even if you dont live in a swing state......you still have Democrats in Congress to vote out.....Democrats at your State and City levels to vote out......and probably a host of tax increases, levies, and Democrat insanity to vote down. . .
California only is democrat because the people there actually vote for democrats. If nobody voted because they believed their vote didn't matter then California would be a swing State. Maybe if many democrats believe their vote doesn't matter many of them might stay home on election day and the state could flip to the right. Votes always matter. Many soldiers have fallen on the battlefield so you have the chance to go cast that vote. You would be spitting on their sacrifice by not voting so yes your vote matters quite a great deal. There are people today dieing in far off countries for the very right that you are so easily debating.
As others have noted, the only reason your state isn't a swing state is because people vote. So you vote to ensure your state isn't a swing state. On another level, voting is important because of the Electoral College. In every presidential election, we compare the popular vote to the Electoral College, and get worried when they don't show the same thing. An accurate popular vote total helps us weigh the legitimacy of any given winner, and helps us understand the Electoral College results. It's possible to win all 538 Electoral Votes by only winning 50% of the total vote +1. It would look like a landslide, but it wouldn't be: it would be an indicator of very broad but relatively shallow support. Similarly, somebody can win the presidency despite getting hammered in the popular vote, if their opposition is concentrated in deep-blue or deep-red states. A full popular vote let's us weigh the meaning of that outcome as well. So go ahead and vote, so that your vote will help parse the meaning of the eventual outcome.
I'm not debating voting, I'm debating who to vote for. Pragmatically, CA will be blue, for better or worse. I guess you guys are right though, people should vote for what and who they believe in, not the lesser of two evils.
Ahhh, my mistake then. I live in a republican State and its not going to switch on how I vote but we have countless other seats to decide on. In my opinion, the make-up of the Congress is more important then the President as well as numerous propositions to shoot down. Another big factor when deciding who to vote for is who will pick a Supreme Court Justice you like. There's a small possiblility that the next four years could see another Justice leave (although unlikely) but its a huge decision because of the 5-4 split right now. If Obama wins, and gets another pick, the Court is going to lean left instead of right which has an enormous effect on Court precedence on any number of issues that could be important to you.
That's true, but my county is also solid blue. I think the the Supreme Count Justice issue is one of the most important as is congress. I don't think we'll make any progress if one party is not in complete control at this point. How did we get here?
