Tag: Voters

Donald Trump’s And Hillary Clinton’s Supporters

I am sooooooo Borrrrrrrred with the election process so I think I will go off track and ask some questions…..not that I would get any answers…..does anyone have a “real” reason for voting for their fave candidate?  Is anyone taking either of the two seriously?  Really?  Why?

I have for a long time now tried to figure out just what it is about the candidates that make the people like them over the other.

To me they are just babbling twats that are trying to lie their way into the presidency….

Like I say I cannot see what makes one favorable over the other…..that is until I read this article……and now it is perfectly clear…..(not really but it is a good start)…….

A new Pew Research Center study finds that a third of Clinton and Trump supporters are most strongly motivated by opposition to Trump and Clinton.

The biggest reason supporters of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton support their candidate is because they’re not the other.

That’s the finding from a Pew Research Center study of a month’s worth of survey data. Pew found, from more than 4,000 interviews conducted online and by mail, that the “main reason” supporters of both candidates were voting for their candidate was because “he is not Clinton,” and “she is not Trump.” Almost one out of every three people said so.

Source: Donald Trump’s And Hillary Clinton’s Supporters Are Motivated By Opposition To The Other : NPR

It makes sense now!

It is a contest of personalities…..issue and solutions be damn!

And Americans wonder what has gone wrong with their “near perfect” system……(The obvious always alludes them)…..

All I can do is laugh at the ignorance (used that for stupidity has already been used)…..

A billion…that is billion with a “B” wasted on this Reality show featuring “Dumb and Dumber”…….and you think wasting money on hungry kids is worthless…..

2016: Slip Sliding Away

In a little over 50 days we will have a new president and then the finger pointing will begin…..all searching for excuses for their candidates loss.

May I see a show of hands…..how many think that GW Bush won in 2000 because Nader sucked votes away from Gore?

If you voted yes then you have voted for the common excuse that the Dems use to explain the defeat of Gore.  The diatribe is that Nader sucked off votes from people that would have probably voted for Gore had he not been opposed by Nader……

I think that is a cowardly statement…..Gore lost because he was a horrible candidate that progressive Dems did not like and did not vote for him.  It is just that simple….a terrible candidate.

Fast forward to this year’s election…..Clinton began the Summer leading Trump by double digits in many regions and slowly but slowly that lead has eroded to the point that the election is close to a toss up….either Trump or Clinton could win.

Personally I think that the two major parties are presenting the worst candidates possible.  Only 2000 had candidates that were this suck ass.

Voters that actually think see the weakness of the candidates and have begun looking for an alternative (smells like 2000 all over again)……We have the candidate of the old angry white men and the candidate of the 1%….neither represent the bulk of the voting public.

The Repubs are setting up the scenario it they lose the election….it will be voter fraud…..and the Dems it will be the same as 2000 people wasted their vote on a third party candidate.

The wasted vote premise is a myth….

The biggest objection by allies to voting for a Third Party is the “wasted vote” argument — the idea that if you vote for someone who will not win, then the vote does not count.

Join any third party and merely suggest that another person consider voting for a third party candidate and you will hear, ad nauseum, “I don’t want to waste my vote.”

What is a Wasted Vote?

An unprincipled vote is the only wasted vote.

Voting for a third party, contrary to popular belief, is not a wasted vote.

What is voting? It’s a chance to tell the country — and perhaps even the world — what your vision of government and society really is.

Source: The wasted vote myth | Freepress.org

I have already covered this in a previous post….(for your reading delight)…..

Source: Why Your Third-Party Vote Is Not Wasted – In Saner Thought

I refuse to fall the giant shell game the major parties play om the voters….for 100 years talk has been cheap and yet we keep settling for the same promises every election.

If you do not vote for principles then YOUR vote is the wasted vote….NOT MINE!

Are voters really fed up with the status quo?

There is lots of talk of the “status quo” on the campaign trail these days…..as well in many blogs….it seems everybody is talking about the subject.

But the more important question is….are they really fed up?

I say no they are not.

I say that because as much as they bitch and moan about it….they will vote for a candidate that will keep it in place…..no matter the promises and the applause lines…..none of the major party candidates will do anything to change the status quo.

Americans really, really dislike their politicians. Just not enough to actually replace them, apparently.

Even as Democrat Hillary Clinton plummeted to Donald Trump-like depths of unpopularity this week, the quintessential Washington insider could take solace from a string of victories by establishment candidates who triumphed over voter ire. The results are likely to reinforce Clinton’s preference for a careful, boring campaign at stark odds with her Republican rival’s wild swings between presidential gravitas and red meat rhetoric.

RealClearPolitics’ average polling doesn’t show much change from last week and still has Clinton ahead of Trump, 46.1% to 42%. But one thing that has dramatically changed over the past three weeks is Clinton’s unfavorable rating, which according to a recent ABC/Washington Post poll now stands at 59% — neck-and-neck with Trump’s 60%.

Source: US election 2016: Are US voters really that fed up with the status quo?

It makes for good campaign fodder….but in reality there is NO one that will change a thing……campaign promises are just lies….the sooner the voter realizes this one simple fact the sooner real change can be found.

But first they would have to admit that their candidate is flawed…..something that most voters will not consider….once they have made up their minds they will do, say and repeat as if their candidate is the second coming…..they are perfect….they have NO flaws…a bit pathetic in my mind.

Hate to inform you but NO one is the perfect candidate…just some are better liars and actors than others.

But for now it is just the same song with different singers….any vote for the two major candidates is a wasted vote.

Me?  I’m thinking Green!

Why Millennials Have Less Faith in Democracy

This election has something that no other election has had in 40 years….the youth vote.

In the past Black voters have held the key or Hispanic or women….etc etc……but this year the young could be the deciding vote for who will get the nod to run this country…..

Believe it or not there is a pretty good article in The American Conservative on the youth vote or not…..

The latest media shock from the polls is that millennials have given up on democracy.
A quarter century ago only one-sixth of those between 16 and 24 years of age said democracy was  “fairly bad” or “very bad.” But today that has increased to almost one-quarter among millennials, according to the World Values Survey as reported by Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk in a recent edition of the Journal of Democracy.
The main reason was that millennials do not think they can influence policy under democracy.

Source: Why Millennials Have Less Faith in Democracy | The American Conservative

I know…what is old professor doing reading a conservative rag like TAC?

Actually I give all comers a shot at trying to help the reader understand this world a little better and believe it or not….there are some pretty good writers in the magazine….

I may not always agree but I am willing to hear them out….so should anybody that truly cares about the direction of this country….

Primer For The US Presidential Election

As Summer drags on I find myself nostalgic for some cooler temps……lots of rain recently but still damn hot……sorry enough bitching’ on my part…..onward!

My Sunday and I thought since my granddaughter seems a bit interested in the political process I would let her see this article I found on-line…..we have talked about what is being said by the candidates and she wanted to understand the process a bit better…..

I wanted to help her but without getting into a deep philosophical dissertation…..

This is a bit simplistic but it does shed some light of the process…especially for a young mind that is coping with a complex issue…..

See the Republican. Voters are angry. He feeds off their anger. Voters are scared. He feeds off their fear. He watches himself on television. This would make a good television show.

See the Democrat. She is not the Republican. When she wakes up in the morning, she is not the Republican. At bedtime, she is not the Republican. She takes a knife and cuts a juicy steak for dinner. It oozes. Would the steak ooze like that for a Republican?

See the presidential candidates, who are not Republican or Democrat. They wait in line at grocery stores. They park their own cars. They give speeches on sidewalks near train stations. Passengers walk by without noticing them. “Vote for me.” Sorry, I don’t know you, one man replies.

Source: A Child’s Primer For The US Presidential Election

I printed it out for her to keep with her….it seems there are some in her 8th grade class that think they are political geniuses…..I just wanted her to be armed for any BS that may come her way…..

My granddaughter talked about all the back and forth between the two camps….she said that they seem to be “butt hurt”…..meaning feelings are fragile with both these two….even she sees how ridiculous the candidates are acting…..then she asked…”how did we end up with only 2 parties?”

How Did The U.S. End Up With A Two-Party System?

The last thing she said was….”can’t fix stupid”….smart girl.

That be it for today my friends….gotta bounce……Enjoy the rest of your day….I will return to my regular posting schedule tomorrow…..Peace Out……

Why Is He So Damn Popular?

With the rise of Donald Trump I have been asking myself that very question……I mean I am not real clear on his policies other than the wall thing or the Muslim ban or the ban of refugees…..all of which I cannot agree with….but what is his specific economic policy?  And there are similar questions about other important issues…at least in my mind….I am an apologist (so I have been told) but if that means educated and inquisitive then I accept that characterization….

But the question still remains….just why is he so damn popular?

So far the people that support him undying are what I call low information voters….these voters fall for diatribes and slogans that have NOTHING to do with the actual act of governing…..(I could be a lot more cruel but I am trying to keep my cool on this subject)…..

Just who are the people that swear by the Bible that they will vote for Trump?

I found an article that bases the answer on statistics…..

The latest Huffington Post Poll of Polls shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump 47.1 percent to 39.7 percent. Many political observers feel that Trump’s voter “ceiling” is 40 percent of the electorate. Who are these voters?

Two years ago, Pew Research Center released a typology of American politics. The typology distinguished between three classes of voters: the general public, registered voters, and the “politically engaged.” In the category “politically engaged” there were three categories of Republicans: “Steadfast Conservatives: socially conservative populists” at 19 percent; “Business Conservatives: Pro-Wall street, pro-immigrant” at 17 percent; “Young Outsiders: conservative views on government, not on social issues” at 11 percent.

Source: Who Are Trump Voters?

So basically it is the voters that are the most angry at the government and the system that will vote for this person…..no matter what he says or does….they will vote for the man……

Three placards were waved prominently and defiantly in front of the podium before Donald Trump addressed a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday. “Veterans for Trump.”

They were an indication that, despite what pundits have described as the worst campaign week for any presidential candidate in living memory, the Republican nominee still has a solid core of supporters who either do not know or do not care – even as Republicans in Congress who served in the military struggle with their candidate.

Source: ‘I’m still for him’: Trump fans undaunted by string of campaign blunders | US news | The Guardian

His, Trump’s, rhetoric has got Americans, some Americans, lathered up to the point of anger for the first time……is that what you are thinking?

Anti-immigrant rage? Warnings that the America we know and love is dying? We’ve seen this before………

On a stormy Monday afternoon in the spring of 1844, a stout, well-built, 35-year-old Philadelphia newspaper editor ascended a makeshift podium assembled from a stack of packing boxes. Surrounded by some three thousand of his fervent supporters — butchers, grocers, carpenters and craftsman, many armed for this occasion — Lewis Charles Levin had come to the main market in Philly’s heavily Irish-Catholic neighborhood of Kensington. He was there to rail against the rising tide of Catholic immigrants taking jobs from proud Pennsylvania-born Protestants, and the resulting “consequence upon American liberty” he vowed would surely come of admitting even more foreigners.

Unsurprisingly, Kensington’s Irish residents did not take kindly to Levin’s provocation and within minutes he had more to dodge than the water pouring down from the heavens. Vegetables were hurled his way, followed by bricks and stones. Levin’s livid supporters responded in kind, sending the Irish streaming into the streets, guns soon blazing on both sides. By the time they were run out of the neighborhood later that week, Levin’s acolytes had set fire to some thirty homes throughout the neighborhood, even burning two Catholic churches to the ground. At least seven people were killed, with dozens injured on both sides.

Source: Meet the Donald Trump of the 1840s: Lewis Charles Levin rode the wave of righteous anger – Salon.com

I know that some of my more Right leaning nose pickers do not appreciate a history lesson….but tough it out…….ya see this yutz is NOTHING new.

 

To Vote Or Not To Vote?

This election cycle has been crazy brutal….name calling, insults, lies, confusion and most all just plain theatrics……many young voters were turned on by Sanders but since his endorsement of Clinton they are even more confused and angry.

I recent did a post about the anger and confusion of the so-called Millennials….

Bernie has lost his position as the head of a progressive movement…he did that the minute he endorsed Clinton and quickly on his coat tails was Warren….all in the name of unity…&#…

Source: The Millennial Revolt – In Saner Thought

These voters are being turned off by the policies and issues of modern neoliberalism….aka Clinton…..

Their confusion and anger are reflected in a recent poll…..

Most young Americans say the Republican and Democratic parties don’t represent them, a critical data point after a year of ferocious presidential primaries that forced partisans on both sides to confront what — and whom — they stand for.

Source: Poll: Most young Americans say parties don’t represent them

My question is….will this anger and confusion lead to a true viable third party run?

Whatcha think?

Think Green!