Who thinks that only certain people should vote for the president?

Question

I'm a Junior with a double major in Political Science and International Business. I must admit that I didn't know anything about politics outside of what I saw on TV and what other people told me! Not until I changed my major and realized how important politics and government is to everything. School has truly taught me the importance of extensive research, moral reasoning, and most importantly...FACTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although this is totally against what America "so-called" stands for...

After reading peoples answers/comments about each presidential candidate I must admit that I think that only people who are educated about ploitics and candidates should be allowed to vote.

It really bothers me that people vote for superfical reasons! What a waste of vote that could have went towards a good candidate.


Yahoo!Answers has proven that most Americans aren't smart enough to vote!

Am I the only one who feels this way??!!

Presidential Electors are chosen by the popular vote every four years on Election Day.

Popular vote meaning the majority of citizen votes in the state is equals to the electoral vote of out of 538 votes to be exact.

Huh? I am talking about the people who say...I am voting for hillary becasue she's a woman or Im voting for Obama cause he's Black! And Im stupid for saying they need to educate themselves!

Answer 1

i agree that Yahoo!Answers has a lot of stupid people on here, but they're here cuz they have nothing better to do then to make other people frustrated with there ignorance.


If only a certain number of people voted it wouldnt be a democracy. The whole deal with America is that it is a democracy and we are supposed to bo this gloirous torch for other nations for how much good democracy does. Im a little concerned right now with how much its not doing now but that's a differnet issue.

The point of an electoral college is that it keeps the majority from voting for someone who could be very bad for the country. The popular vote could be for someone like Hitler, who was an amazing speaker and was able to persuade people to his side. Stupid people you see on Yahoo!Answers might all vote for Hitler cause of that but then the electoral college does its things and balances out the vote. We're not a pure straight forward deomcaracy like th Greeks had but in there it was too easy to let public opinion rule. Our way is a little safer.

Answer 2

There are plenty of dumb and educated people. There are plenty of dumb uneducated people. There are also plenty of smart educated and smart uneducated people. The problem with our voting system is not the lack of brains of the voters (it's more like the lack of brains/ethics/morals of our politicians), it's the ELECTORAL COLLEGE that is the problem. We do not have a ONE PERSON, one vote in this country. That is what the electoral college prevents. It was invented by the Southerners to keep the black people from being able to vote and get help politically.

Get rid of the electoral college and corrupt voting machines like Diebold (manufactured by a company that wrote they were 'giving Ohio to Bush' in the 2004 election). Then we can talk about if the people are 'smart enough' to vote.

There will always be dumb people out there, that is just the way life works. Educating the voters as to which candidate lies the most would be a good start. If people really knew what was happening in this country, there would be a revolt.

Answer 3

perhaps i'm thick contained in the top yet i trust that those forms of classes and preparation happen in our public college structures in this usa. Civics and authorities classes on the traditional and secondary levels ought to contain sufficient undemanding documents upon which the known citizen might want to base their vote casting judgements. So certain, I agree wholeheartedly that some type of preparation might want to do a international of strong for the country as well because the guy voters in it. optimistically this preparation is taking position throughout the US. Making someone take a learn direction earlier they are eligible to vote? we received't make it mandatory, which will be unconstitutional. spectacular question!

Answer 4

Although I totally agree with your statement, allowing only the educated to vote would go against what America stands for. The beauty of this country is that we have RIGHTS, no matter how ignorant a person is.

A better solution would be to organize a plan to educate those who lack the understanding of politics. I will admit I don't know as much as I wish or should know about our govt system.

Answer 5

Hmmm...

This is the problem with learning something in depth. I know how you feel. But like you said, "this is not how the United States works; this is not what we stand for."

Most of the time, I think that many of the questions/responses that you are seeing are there for shock value anyway. I think that the voters really do vote with a much better understanding of the system/etc. Another thing to consider is that over 50% of people eligible to vote don't. These are probably the ones you are seeing: too busy thinking of witty and clever things to say than to get themselves to the polls.

Another thing to consider: one reason we split from Great Britain was their unfair "taxation without representation." So, maybe it should be a choice: if you choose to pay taxes, you can vote. If you choose exemption, you forfeit your vote.

And why do employees under the age of eighteen still get taxed? They don't get to vote and therefore have no representation. A pretty bad call on our part if you ask me.

Answer 6

i am not a political science major, but i do my best to
keep myself educated on what is happening in the world.
would you exclude me from voting because i have not
taken certain college courses? hopefully, you see where
i am going with this. who would choose who had the
right to vote? if tests were given, who would choose
the questions and who would choose which answers
are right? i know there are a lot of idiots out there,
but have to console myself with the realization that most
of them don't vote at all. and those who do cancel each
other out.
ps/ remember that just because you and another person
do not agree on an issue does not mean there is anything
wrong with either of you. it just means you differ on that
particular subject.

Answer 7

There is a better solution, make voting mandatory. If you don't vote then you get no government assistance. No welfare, no Social Security, no benefits of any kind.

You still pay taxes, but by giving up your option to vote then you also give up your option to claim any benefits from your tax dollars.

Faced with this kind of choice I think you would be surprised how quickly the population would start paying better attention to politics and government.

Answer 8

It would be nice if more people educated themselves about the candidates before voting. The system in the US sucks though. The "two party system" under represents many citizens...who can really trust our votes are counted correctly anyways?

Answer 9

They used to have laws like that. Apparently you haven't gotten to Jim Crow era politics in your classes yet. Those rules were used to keep certain races and economic classes from voting. As much as I'd prefer to have a more educated voting population, I'm not willing to engage in class warfare to do it.

Answer 10

Isn't that why we have an electoral college? Or did you think that citizens votes actually decided the presidency? Maybe you should educate yourself more on the political system before you start looking down your noses at us "dumb" Americans...