Political Parties

I have only voted for a Republican once since I could start voting in the 80s, and that was because the opposing Democrat was a crook. Otherwise, Republican values are so far off a cliff from my own (think civil rights and helping the poor), there has never been a Republican I could consider voting for. I minored in political science and have a pretty solid grasp of politics.

The "people" running for office chose a PARTY to join. I don't care how cute their family looks, or how much their neighbors like them. Their party affiliation demonstrates their core values (like my party affiliation demonstrates mine) about the role and responsibility of government, the rights and responsibilities of citizens, the expectations of the community of it members etc... I'm not voting for a person to play basketball with, I'm voting for a law-maker... so I ONLY care about their positions on LAWMAKING and POLITICS... and those are tied to their party.

I used to vote along party lines, but as I've gotten older I tend to learn more about the issues and vote more specifically - and I like to think more intelligently. ;)

*That last bit was just to say that I've gotten older and wiser. It wasn't a political jab at anyone. I know these threads can get pretty sensitive.

In a two party system, A and B end up being 2 sides of the same coin.
No mater who wins, we all lose.
I don't feel that either party is working for me or the citizens of our country.

When a preschooler doesn't want to get dressed, Mom gets around this by giving them a choice 'Will you wear the green shirt or the yellow shirt?' and the kid chooses thinking he's had a choice and totally ignoring the fact that he still got dressed when that wasn't what he wanted to do.

Our election was a 4 billion dollar green shirt / yellow shirt choice and we didn't want either one of them.

I am ALWAYS up for a 'party'!!!

But, with respect to politics...I am 'registered' as one party...yet find myself often voting for another party of late.

The truth is, as 'registered' 'as' a particular party...I have the ability to vote in primaries.

I vote based on issues irrespective of particular party interests.

**I still enjoy a great 'party' though!!! **

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ETA...I am 55. So I am no doubt closer in age to your parents/in (out??) laws.

I would suggest that their differences CAN be the source of some lively debate!

It surely IS here when all my kiddos are home for the holidays.

Such a BROAD spectrum of opinions...yet they ALL have the same parents.

Handled in a 'friendly' manner it CAN be great fun!

best!

I have voted many many times.

I educate myself on the candidates.

I have NEVER EVER EVER seen a candidate in the other party that I agreed with more than the one in my own party. The parties are too different. A candidate who stands for everything I do would not be in the other party. Now MAYBE, a long time ago, when everyone watched and read the same news outlets and Democrats and Republicans were not such polar opposites on EVERY LEVEL, there could have been some overlap. But not now.

Even when I don't click, "Straight party vote", I end up individually choosing everyone in my own party.

I believe in a woman's right to choose.
I believe in equal pay for women.
I believe gays should never be discriminated against.
I believe immigration is important to our culture.
I believe education should NEVER EVER be cut NO MATTER WHAT. I would quadruple corporate taxes before one penny came out of our schools.
I hate guns.
I believe everyone should contribute to a society where everyone has health care.
I believe the wealthiest Americas should pay their fair share of all taxes including capital gains taxes.
I believe corporations should pay their taxes.
I believe in raising the minimum wage substantially.
etc etc etc etc

How on earth would a Republican candidate ever work for me?

I really like your question. And I really like the answers you're getting, too.

I think it shows how absurd our 2 party system has become.

If NOone votes by party, and everyone votes by issue, why do we HAVE parties?

If we are ALL "Independent" (voting for individual candidates based on how that person feels about issues that concern us) why are we required to choose party A or party B? Why do we need primaries?

The labels have become rather silly.

Maybe our kids, and their kids will scratch their heads and wonder how such a bizarre system came to be, huh?

:)

Both parties are currently "owned" by big business, there is no doubt about that.

There is one party that has worked very hard to establish that as status quo and they had quite a victory last night. The new senate majority leader has consistently fought campaign finance reform and enthusiastically supports the Citizens United decision.

So if you find yourself consistently voting the party lines of that particular party AND you believe in Democracy you might want to rethink your position.

I too vote issues and there is no bigger issue then the theft of our democratic system at the hands of a very small number of very wealthy people. It would be great if we had more choices but at this point there is only one party that MIGHT try to get us off this path to Oligarchy.

Sadly, as of the last several years that's about all I think when it comes to national elections. I fear for the country my children are growing into, this ain't my Momma's democracy.

I'm an independent voter from a state which, if I had my druthers, would offer stellar candidates in a variety of parties. This election I did a lot of voting for lesser evils, if you will, and a couple of candidates which I do appreciate. Mostly, though, I'm disappointed that it's become a money game and I think a great disservice is done to all of us when we don't have strong candidates across the board. So, I tend to vote for "party A", as it were, but I wish party B would put up more accessible, intelligent and strong candidates, as it would bring up the entire state and make both 'sides' stronger. For what it's worth, too: 43, progressive in ideals but centrist when it comes to actually voting and my hopes for legislature, mainly because I think centrists tend to be more thoughtful about the big picture for all involved and make more moderate decisions.

KM,

Nope. I do NOT vote party lines. IT doesn't help, in my opinion. I research the candidate and their platform. If they have held an office in the past, I research their votes and if they didn't vote (one of the MANY reason's I couldn't support 0bama - he wasn't there to vote to many times).

I wasn't raised to vote party lines either. My parents taught me how to research BEFORE computers. We would go to the library together and pull up articles on microfiche....(am I dating myself)...

I won't say I'm disappointed by yesterday's elections. I'm sad that more people didn't speak up and have their voices heard. It's sad.

Research. Research. Research.

I can tell you I HATED the ad's this "season" - NONE of the candidates were talking about what their plan was - it was just debasing the other candidate(s). It SOO turned me off that I just tuned them ALL out.

I vote how I want. I voted against my main party on a couple of fronts, because I want the incumbent OUT. My grandmother always votes a straight ticket. We don't discuss politics.

I know one thing, I am profoundly tired of both A & B. Since my values are similar to Amy J, I find myself mostly voting for one party, however, would really love to have some viable choices that are C,D,E,F, & G.

It's been quite some time that I feel like I am voting for the less evil, the less radical, the less scary and not voting for who will actually do anything.
Campaign promises are as empty as a student president in elementary school saying they will get rid of all the standardized testing. It's just not going to happen.
Candidates can promise me the moon but when it comes down to it, it will never happen. My candidate won't fight hard enough and the others will fight against him/her as hard as they can so there is a stale mate.

Until "Us vs Them" stops and we find some common middle ground, we're going to be stuck like this for a long time. Until we remove the ability to tack on completely unrelated "perks and favors" to important things we're totally screwed. Get the lobbyists and big businesses and their corruption out of the gene pool. I'll scratch your back if you scratch my back and if you don't follow my rules that let me win, I'm taking my ball and going home mentality is getting us nowhere. It's all just a disgusting charade.

ETA: I'm registered as non-partisan.

I educate myself about the issues and the people running, and I vote for the person I believe will do the best job with respect to the issues I believe are most important.

I am more than one party. I do lean a certain way but doesn't mean that I am completely on board with some of the candidates.

I do not vote straight ticket. Now I might vote for everyone in that particular party but I do my homework and know the full picture.

A question that I have always wanted to know is, if you don't agree with a candidate on ONE particular point but agree with the rest, do you still vote for that person?

I have always voted based on the person or issue, never just for one party. Although I do have a political leaning/inclination, I prefer to research their person and their prior political history, including any voting they may have taken a part in, before deciding who to vote for.

I used to look at the candidate and vote accordingly. At this point in time however, I could never vote for a democrat!! Their liberal policies are destroying this county and I am pretty confident I would not support the majority of policies and legislation that democrats supports.
I am certainly not in love with Republicans either but I think they are the overall better choice.

I vote for whoever seems best for the job. Half the time voting is when I actually see which party they are affiliated with. That doesn't mean I do no research I just tend to ignore party affiliation whenever possible.

ETA: @ SouthernYankee, it depends on what the core issue is. For example, although I am very liberal and almost always vote Democrat, I am pro-life. Most candidates who I vote for would publicly support a woman's right to choose. To me, social justice about a lot more than that one issue, so I don't let it get in the way. I'd rather vote for someone who believes in keeping abortion safe and legal but also thinks we have a responsibility to the poor and the middle class, the environment, accessible healthcare, marriage equality, religious tolerance, a compassionate and practical stance on immigration, etc. than for someone who claims to be pro-life but supports the gun lobby, Big Oil, corporate funding of campaigns, homophobia, disrespects women, etc. In my state, Party B candidates are pretty much middle-of-the-road types (otherwise they don't stand a chance of being elected) so it's not a huge issue here, but it's disappointing to see something like the pro-life movement, and the Catholic church (which I belong to) sometimes endorsing voting for extreme candidates or policies in other states just because of their stance on abortion or birth control or gay marriage without accounting for the fact that just about everything else the candidate espouses goes against church teachings.

Original:
Honestly, it depends. I live in a mostly one-party state (et's call it Party A) and luckily, identify pretty closely with that party on core issues that are important to me.

For thing like the president, governor, senator and representative positions, I do my research and know why I am voting for whom.

With some of the lower-level positions, if I haven't heard about either of the candidates, I'll usually vote for the incumbent or Party A, which in my state, is usually the same thing. If there are major issues with the job that the incumbent has done, there has usually been enough press that I'm aware of the issues and will research before voting.

Many of our local positions are unopposed and/or party doesn't matter. If something local is contested, I usually know the people personally or have read and seen enough to make an informed choice.

I'm registered with "party b" but I vote for whomever I think is the best candidate. I have no problem voting for party a, b, c or d but I do find that I usually end up choosing b.

Well, I do research the candidates, sure. However, what I've noticed in my past 20 years of voting is that while the candidates of Party A may not be perfect, Party B is completely insane.

So for all intents and purposes, I vote for Party A pretty much always. Our newly-elected congressman is from Party B (I didn't vote for him), and although he did a good job of pretending to be rational and normal during the campaign, his previous voting record indicates otherwise. He's a total extremist nutbag, this guy. Ugh.

It doesn't matter. They all work for the same boss.

I vote the issues.

My biggest concerns now are not Party A vs. Party B. It's the BIG MONEY that funds the political system, such that the only way a candidate can get enough money to buy air time and pay for attack ads is to toe the line with the big donors (which are more often corporations, PACs and billionaires now). So few candidates can actually state their positions because they aren't "in line" with the platform. When I look at how extreme some candidates were in their primaries and how mainstream they suddenly became in the general election, I wonder how any voter knows what she's getting.

The Big Money thing is, I think, a big factor in the extremely low voter turnout we have in this country, in every state, in every election. If 2/3 of the voters don't turn out at all, we don't have a functioning democracy, and the candidates aren't really answerable to anyone except the lobbyists and the party leaders who control committee assignments (and that's where laws are written).

I always vote, I research issues, I only listen to ads/commercials/written papers by the candidates themselves (vs. those paid for by PACs or corporations), and still I vacillate between furious and discouraged.

I have problems with the 2 party system, to be sure, but I also see the often-unholy alliances between various small parties in the Parliamentary system (e.g. UK, Canada, Israel), so it's not perfect anywhere.

I vote for the party. The actual candidate matters very little to me, as long as they have the same ideology as me. A candidate with another party may be wonderful, but they are not going to run things the way I think they should be run if they don't hold the same beliefs.

Updated

I vote for the party. The actual candidate matters very little to me, as long as they have the same ideology as me. A candidate with another party may be wonderful, but they are not going to run things the way I think they should be run if they don't hold the same beliefs.

I find that party B virtually never runs candidates I can support on virtually any issue. This was not always true. Party B used to run candidates who were way more middle of the road socially but could be fiscally conservative. Back then, I would find I sometimes voted party A and sometimes party B. For the past decade or so, I have not found a single candidate in party B that I could vote for. That said, I do not always agree with things party A candidates support. But I will vote for that candidate if I agree with most of his/her issue positions and both candidates hold the same position on the issue I disagree about. Clear as mud?

ETA: I did notice a few years back that the endorsements from the National Right to Life party were no longer listed on the ballot. I assume that they didn't like the people who if they knew nothing else about a candidate would automatically vote for the one without the NRL endorsement.

Growing up a military dependent, marrying one and living the life of the military? I lean towards Republican. As I have grown up and experienced life, I have become more and more Libertarian.

here in Georgia, we had a huge victory, um, I'm sorry, upset with Nunn losing to Perdue.

I will admit I have voted straight tickets in the past, because of the issues. Issues are important to me. What the candidate stands for and what they have done, as in my book actions speak louder than words.

I vote according to issues. My mom is like yours though. She changed her voting when Obama ran for office and it stressed her not to be able to support her democratic party which she has supported in every single election since meeting the age to vote. She says she can hear her sweet dad talking about how they were democrats through and through.

I have no loyalties. I would love to see term limits on every congressional seat. I do NOT believe it was ever meant to be a career. I think 8 years is the longest anyone should be able to serve in any office period, including the judicial system.

Blessings!
L.

I'm an issues voter.
I am a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.
I vote based in a candidates position on the issues about which I am passionate.

I switched to Independent 20 years ago because I was trying to be more objective with my voting, I wanted to force myself out of that One Party box. Alas, the only republican I found worthy of my vote in all those years was Tom Ridge. I did often vote for independents and greens, when they were on the ballot. Every election I look at all the views on either side and I try really hard to understand the GOP's point of view, but it hasn't worked. It just makes me lean harder toward the other party.

I vote for whichever party represents the issue that I support. It can vary. I never vote straight ticket. My parents do.

I have voted for people from both "main" parties, as well as third party candidates. I simply vote for whoever I think has the best direction and ideas and whose beliefs align most closely to my own. As a woman with military affiliations I did end up voting for mostly Dems and third party folks this time around, because I think they have the better ideas and more respect for equality and freedom. Next time, who knows who will get my vote. A lot can happen in two years. (or nothing at all)

But in the end I think it makes little difference, we always repeat the same cycle. The GOP made gains this time because the party not in power ALWAYS makes gains in the midterm election.

Before elections, I always enjoy going to the website http://www.isidewith.com/ You answer a bunch of questions about your opinions on various current political issues, and then it calculates how closely your values match those of the different candidates running for election. It's really interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see the results!

I typically vote party lines because the candidates show a record of voting more in favor of my views on the issues, not because htey have an R or a D next to their name. I also tend to lean more in the middle for some issues, so I want someone who is middle of the road, though that is hard to find.

My husband and I are different political parties, which has its own issues, but it's good for our kids to see how our politica views differ, but we can talk about the issues (sometimes) and we can still love each other and get along. Plus they go to vote with both of us and see that people vote differently and we really just have to wait and see what the results are.

I vote for party A and the Greens. The platform of B had many things I am totally against, so it's doubtful I will find a candidate of that party I'd vote for. I'm not against it,,and I do look at all their information, but there is one party value that usually determines I'd never vote for them.

I'm an independent.

I have voted for candidates from different parties in the past, but lately I find that my views and issues are more directly met by one party versus another. I will still occasionally vote for candidates in one of the minor parties. However, I always research the candidates ahead of time (including all the judges and minor offices like soil conservation supervisor), because I refuse to vote for someone who is a total kook or a criminal or other major flaw. I vote in every election, even primaries.

I also think it is important to read the party platform, because that gives you additional insight into the issues the candidate is likely to pursue despite what they might say during campaign season.