Do you vote by political party, individual candidate or single issue?

Question

Does anyone here honestly review the issues and are willing to vote across political parties if they agree on a candidate's views, or do you stick to whatever party you associate yourself with regardless?

Answer 1

I vote for who I think has my best interests in mind, regardless of party.
I am registered with a party, but have voted against it at times.

Answer 2

In the current environment, there isn't necessarily a distinction between voting on issues and voting a party line. The reality is that there is a pretty sharp distinction between the parties, and a lot of consistency in each party. Analysis of voting patterns in Congress confirms this: votes are much more along party lines than in the past. Not surprising, since it used to be that the Dixiecrats, while in the Democratic Party, were on the far right and the Republicans had an active and strong liberal wing.

I would never vote for a Republican today, even if I liked the candidate. Even the few moderates left paly no real role except to cast votes for the Republican leadership candidates, thereby empowering the extremists that dominate the party.

Answer 3

Abortion is not the ONLY item on the bishops' agenda. You can actually go to the USBBC website and see all the topics they have been discussing this week. If you care. You are correct that Catholicism opposes the death penalty, ANY unjust war (there are other wars going on in the world besides Iraq, in case you didn't know), oppression, economic and social injustices, etc. It has nothing to do with the Republican platform at all. Ask any bishop, and he will freely admit that the Democrats are better on some of these issues, and the Republicas are better on others. However, since legalized abortion has already led to the merciless slaughter of almost 50 million human beings, and neither capitol punishment nor the Iraqi war have come even close to that figure, and when you couple that with Barack Obama's intention to force all taxpayers to pay for abortions and all health care workers to participate in abortions even if they are morally opposed to it and all Catholic institutions to provide abortions and other morally problematic procedures, the issue of abortion is naturally getting a lot of attention from the bishops.

Answer 4

I used to consider candidates carefully, but over time I've come to notice that I never agree with Republican candidates, and I almost always agree with Democratic candidates. The fundamental platforms of the Republican party (overwhelming support for free market economics and its ability to fix all of society's ills, the desire for a strong military and use of military force worldwide to advance US interests, and a general preference for regulating moral issues) are things which I never agree with. While I don't always agree completely with a Democratic candidate, I have historically always prefered their stance on the majority of issues.

And our "one-person, one-vote system" is built to eliminate the possibility of a viable, national 3rd party. I sometimes vote independent or for a 3rd party in local elections.

Answer 5

I guess I would say individual candidate in the sense that I would vote for the candidate that best reflects by beliefs and opinions as to the direction the country should take. I couldn't care less about party affiliation but it seems in national elections I tend to vote for Republicans more often and in local race the Democrats. Not really sure why that is.

Answer 6

The way I do it is I have my set of beliefs an I like to see how my beliefs stack up to another canidates regardless of political party. There are some issues that some people find important, yet I do not care much for it. I do not care for party they subscribe to and I do not use one issue to determine why i vote for someone or not. It is really a combo of the 3.

Answer 7

Well, kinda none of the above.

I don't see it as a checklist of issues, but more the overall stance (and integrity -- where that's an option), that a laundry list of issues.

WHO is this person?

You can look at it in terms of issues, but I don't really see it that way.

Do I have any reason to believe the person is truly pro-human.

I don't think I've ever voted for a Republican.

I have voted 3rd party, when I don't like whatever Dem is available to me.

For instance, I simply will NOT vote for "Princess Di Fi" (Senator, California) as I HATE her -- she's really a Republican, except for abortion and gay rights, and has NO INTEGRITY.

But it's really the source of their positions on specific issues, than the issues themselves, the person's overall perspective.

Of course, one often has to hold one's nose and vote against someone. I generally don't do this; I'll vote Green instead (as the party shares my perspective).

I do not like my House Representative and tend to vote for someone other than her -- I used to LOVE my rep's, but I've been redrawn out of their districts. (Ron Dellums ruled! I grew to love George Miller just as much. But I can't vote for either Miller or Dellums' successor Barbara Lee, more's the pity.)

I don't see any Republican sharing my perspective, so would be very surprised to find myself voting Republican -- at least as things now stand.

Answer 8

I vote by the candidate's views and stance on issues important to me. I lean Democrat, but I vote for whom I feel has my interests in mind, regardless of party affiliation.

Answer 9

I vote for whoever holds my interest on issues I care about. i will say this though, I used to vote across party lines but anyone who backs the iraq War or bush in general stands no chance at my vote, and the fact that McCain got slandered by Rovian politics in 2000 then turned into a Bush lapdog cost him my supprt again

Answer 10

Individual candidate.
You would have to be a complete nimrod to vote for someone without being informed on the issues or where that candidate stands on them.
There are Conservative Democrats and Liberal Republicans so voting by party is just plane stupidity.

"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men"
~Plato~

Answer 11

I used to vote Democratic across the board. Not anymore. I have become a centrist. So this next election will be alot more work for me. I will vote on the issues that are the most important to me.