I'm not sure my "Vote out incumbents" is any better but I was armed with so little knowledge that I should be ashamed for pushing buttons.  I decided what I was doing well before the elections.  I was voting for challengers.   I think most people have their minds made up before they even know who's running and go to the polls with no knowledge of issues or candidates.   I have a good mix of lib/con friends/acquaintances.   I'm not sure any of them would cross party lines.   We don't discuss politics because of this.

Posted by burnsy483 on 10/17/2013 8:01:00 PM (view original):
For the 2012 election, I did a lot of research on the candidates where I live, and although I generally lean left on most issues, I actually did vote Republican for HOR (he won easily, he's quite popular).  I'm sure I knew more about the candidates than the vast majority of those voting.

That said, when I got to vote, and I found more things to vote for than I anticipated.  Judges, mostly.  I voted blue across the board on those I didn't know.  And minutes after I left, I was kicking myself for doing that.  I shouldn't have voted for people I knew nothing about.  All I knew was democrat/republican.

My point is - I agree with Mike.  I'm sure there are many, many people who just pick "their side" across the board without thinking.  It's the wrong approach.

If I know nothing about any of the candidates for a particular office, I just don't vote for that office.

That's mostly true for candidates for local offices, because the only thing I know about 99% of them is their names that I see on signs on people's lawns all over town.  Oftentimes, I don't even know if they're D or R until I get my ballot on election day.  Sometimes, they send out pamphlets or postcards that really have no relevant information beyond a generic "will fight to make the right decisions for our town".  Like that freakin' means anything.

A lot of cities in CA have non partisan local elections. Unless you pay close attention, you have no idea what party a candidate belongs to.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/17/2013 7:53:00 PM (view original):
If you want to argue "Small sample size", feel free to do so.   But I believe you said "I haven't voted Republican in 13 years on the Federal level."    That's a pretty solid trend.

But I'm not doing it blindly. That's the point.

Posted by tecwrg on 10/17/2013 8:45:00 PM (view original):

Posted by burnsy483 on 10/17/2013 8:01:00 PM (view original):
For the 2012 election, I did a lot of research on the candidates where I live, and although I generally lean left on most issues, I actually did vote Republican for HOR (he won easily, he's quite popular).  I'm sure I knew more about the candidates than the vast majority of those voting.

That said, when I got to vote, and I found more things to vote for than I anticipated.  Judges, mostly.  I voted blue across the board on those I didn't know.  And minutes after I left, I was kicking myself for doing that.  I shouldn't have voted for people I knew nothing about.  All I knew was democrat/republican.

My point is - I agree with Mike.  I'm sure there are many, many people who just pick "their side" across the board without thinking.  It's the wrong approach.

If I know nothing about any of the candidates for a particular office, I just don't vote for that office.

That's mostly true for candidates for local offices, because the only thing I know about 99% of them is their names that I see on signs on people's lawns all over town.  Oftentimes, I don't even know if they're D or R until I get my ballot on election day.  Sometimes, they send out pamphlets or postcards that really have no relevant information beyond a generic "will fight to make the right decisions for our town".  Like that freakin' means anything.

Yea, its not entirely easy to find info on some of these guys. One candidate running for assembly was a hospital administrator, IIRC, and the only issue he seemed to take a stand on was regarding more funding for health care or something. This was his first venture into politics. You literally could not find any other info on other issues. I voted for the incumbent (a republican) because he actually had a plan if he were reelected, which he was.

Posted by bad_luck on 10/17/2013 8:58:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/17/2013 7:53:00 PM (view original):
If you want to argue "Small sample size", feel free to do so.   But I believe you said "I haven't voted Republican in 13 years on the Federal level."    That's a pretty solid trend.

But I'm not doing it blindly. That's the point.

Do you think you're doing it objectively?   I doubt it.    I'm quite sure the process is "What do I like about the Dem?   What do I dislike about the Repub?" and go from there.   I think that's how most people do it.   I stopped listening to Obama because he is, or was(he just sounds like a douche now because he doesn't always get his way), such a great speaker.   I didn't like his plans but, when he outlined them in a speech, I had to suppress the urge to stand up and yell 'HELL YEAH!!!"

That actually convinced me that the best way to "hear" a politician's plans was to read them.   Same voice, same cadence. 

This ties in with why a ended up voting Obama in 2012.  I wasn't thrilled with what Obama did his first term, and I was looking for a reason to vote Romney.  Aside from leaning left on social issues (which I would guess Romney did as well, honestly, he just couldn't say it) Obama had outlined a plan for the economy.  Unless I just missed something, it seemed that Romney kept saying the same line or two over and over and didn't seem to have anything concrete, and as much as I'm dissatisfied with where we are now, I'm not sure Romney would have done better.  From here we can get into "if Romney did this and didn't do this, we'd be here, etc" which is all good, but we don't know for sure. 

Compared to a lot of you guys, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to economics.  And to be honest, the more I learn, the more I'm drifting in my thinking to the right.  There's a decent chance I'm voting republican in 2016, as long as the candidate doesn't come across as your stereotypical right-wing jackass.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/18/2013 9:06:00 AM (view original):

Posted by bad_luck on 10/17/2013 8:58:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/17/2013 7:53:00 PM (view original):
If you want to argue "Small sample size", feel free to do so.   But I believe you said "I haven't voted Republican in 13 years on the Federal level."    That's a pretty solid trend.

But I'm not doing it blindly. That's the point.

Do you think you're doing it objectively?   I doubt it.    I'm quite sure the process is "What do I like about the Dem?   What do I dislike about the Repub?" and go from there.   I think that's how most people do it.   I stopped listening to Obama because he is, or was(he just sounds like a douche now because he doesn't always get his way), such a great speaker.   I didn't like his plans but, when he outlined them in a speech, I had to suppress the urge to stand up and yell 'HELL YEAH!!!"

That actually convinced me that the best way to "hear" a politician's plans was to read them.   Same voice, same cadence. 

Are you asking if I lean one direction or another? Of course. But "I'm quite sure" you're wrong about my thought process when I vote.

Posted by burnsy483 on 10/18/2013 10:06:00 AM (view original):
This ties in with why a ended up voting Obama in 2012.  I wasn't thrilled with what Obama did his first term, and I was looking for a reason to vote Romney.  Aside from leaning left on social issues (which I would guess Romney did as well, honestly, he just couldn't say it) Obama had outlined a plan for the economy.  Unless I just missed something, it seemed that Romney kept saying the same line or two over and over and didn't seem to have anything concrete, and as much as I'm dissatisfied with where we are now, I'm not sure Romney would have done better.  From here we can get into "if Romney did this and didn't do this, we'd be here, etc" which is all good, but we don't know for sure. 

Compared to a lot of you guys, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to economics.  And to be honest, the more I learn, the more I'm drifting in my thinking to the right.  There's a decent chance I'm voting republican in 2016, as long as the candidate doesn't come across as your stereotypical right-wing jackass.

Take a look at this interview with Josh Barro, a Republican politics editor at Business Insider. It's not technical at all but it covers a lot of basic economic ideas.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/17/gop_is_crazy_and_awful_the_josh_barro_republicans_are_displeased/singleton/

Like I said, I've voted for Republicans at the state and local level plenty of times. It's easy for a local politician to appeal to a broad base of voters in both parties. They don't face pressure from other members of the party to do retarded things like shut down the government. They also work within much narrower parameters. It doesn't matter what the mayor thinks of Medicare or abortion or a stimulus package or gay marriage.

But, at the Federal level, politicians' views on those (and plenty of other things) matter. It's rare that a Republican presidential candidate would fall closer to my feelings on those issues than the candidate from the Democrats.

Nope. I'm saying that I consider the positions of both candidates before voting.

Posted by MikeT23 on 10/18/2013 1:32:00 PM (view original):
"It's rare that a Republican presidential candidate would fall closer to my feelings on those issues than the candidate from the Democrats" sounds an awful lot like a pre-determined opinion.

I'm not being critical.   I think most of America has decided before they know the candidates.   I proudly declare that I voted for Clinton both times but the fact of the matter is my situation is much different now.  Without my complete disgust with Washington gridlock, I'd be hard-pressed to vote Dem again.   I can be honest with myself on the matter.  Try it.  You'll feel better.

It's not predetermined. Once in a while, a Republican candidate for national office holds positions closer to mine than the candidate from the Democrats. In that case, I vote for the Republican.