November Elections (US)

[acs236]

Seeing as the GOP and our President have such low approval ratings these days, and that even elder GOP personalities have warned about a rough election for the Republicans, I was wondering if anyone here, who may have voted Republican in the last couple of elections, is planning on voting differently come November?

[nmculbreth]

Interesting question, the Republicans are still very strong with their core base but they could have a lot of problems with moderates and undecided voters. The key for the Democrats is to get this undecided group motivated to vote, if they're unable to mobilize this group I don't think they'll make the gains they need to in order to take back control of Congress. As an interesting side-note historically the President's approval ratings tend to drop in the second year of his term and often the opposing party ends up picking up more seats in Congress as a result. President Bush did not experience this phenomenon due to his huge spike in popularity following 9/11 but it's safe to say he's feeling the full force this time around. Should make for an interesting midterm.

[Grand Enigma]

I plan to vote the same I always do

[devwild]

I don't give a rat's ass about the parties. I thought Bush was a moron the first time he ran and felt that he and his appointments/followers throughout the government would likely be impressionable corporate playthings. For the most part that has been the case. 9/11 and Iraq was a surprise, but has not improved my opinion. In particular it pisses me off that not only have we managed to severely alienate ourselves from the rest of the world in the last 6 years mainly due to one man, but that Americans are so blind to the rest of the world that they reelected the guy.

I will vote for people who admit their mistakes and stand for what they believe in. I honestly care more about that than what exactly it is they believe in. You know, leaders - something Americans don't believe in any more apparently. To rip off Jon Stewart, don't vote for people "like us" - we're a bunch of fucking morons.

Unless of course they believe in something insanely stupid or something that violates our basic rights. Most american politicians who stand for that shit are puppets, and thus don't pass test #1, but you gotta keep an eye out for the crazies too. Don't elect me for example.

That's my highly detailed and well constructed arguement.

[acs236]

To simplify things, each of the two major parties have their in-the-bag voters. This does not mean that these voters support all Democrat or Republican policies, but only that they're generally not going to vote for the other party. It seems that most elections are decided by "swing" voters. I've heard a lot of talk about swing voters, about how the Democrats should do well in the November election if the poll numbers are to be believed, but I was hoping to hear some personal stories about those who may have voted for Bush in 2000 or 2004 (and other local Republicans), but are planning to with the Democrats this year.

[blessingx]

Interesting question, the Republicans are still very strong with their core base but they could have a lot of problems with moderates and undecided voters.

I'm not sure this is true. Many fiscal conservatives have a major problem with the current administration.

I don't give a rat's ass about the parties.

How is this possible? I've never understood this, since the Whigs collapsed, the two current major parties have a long history to go by. Although there's been some changing over the years (on "states rights" they flip-flopped if you go back to the Civil War), from at the very least FDR and the New Deal on, the parties have been not very inconsistent (the Dixiecrats may be an exception). And you don't rise to power without pleasing the party (most obvious recent example is John McCains ugly transformation into a Bush apologist).

About the only thing I liked about the Reagan administration is I thought I got the worst president of my lifetime out of the way early. Was I wrong.

Another question that may be asked is if the Democrats continue their recent aimless pussyfooting, who will abandon them and vote Green, etc. next election hoping to create a party with a backbone?

[nmculbreth]

I'm not sure this is true. Many fiscal conservatives have a major problem with the current administration.

How is this possible? I've never understood this, since the Whigs collapsed, the two current major parties have a long history to go by. Although there's been some changing over the years (on "states rights" they flip-flopped if you go back to the Civil War), from at the very least FDR and the New Deal on, the parties have been not very inconsistent (the Dixiecrats may be an exception). And you don't rise to power without pleasing the party (most obvious recent example is John McCains ugly transformation into a Bush apologist).

About the only thing I liked about the Reagan administration is I thought I got the worst president of my lifetime out of the way early. Was I wrong.

Another question that may be asked is if the Democrats continue their recent aimless pussyfooting, who will abandon them and vote Green, etc. next election hoping to create a party with a backbone?

There are many fiscal conservatives weren't happy with Bush winning the nomination in 2000 because of his neo-Con agenda, that said they still voted Republican and most likely will continue to do so. Who else would they vote for? They're certainly not going to vote Democrat so unless they decide to vote Libertarian I don't see this base being a problem for the Republicans.

The Congressional Democrats don't have a collective backbone but behind the scenes I think Dean is doing a pretty good job as head of the DNC. Right now the party is doing well with it's fund raising and setting up a grassroots infrastructure, I'll be interested to see how much their effort pays off this fall.

[devwild]

How is this possible?

It takes a very... unusual... perspective on the development of human culture and the nature of leadership. 90% of modern democratic debate is quite pointless... and Americans are very poor at looking at the big picture.