Why do people vote a party line? Why not think for yourself and choose the best candidate?

Question

Dia- yeah pretty much. Politician=liar.

Winemaker- I vote republican most of the time and your statement seems to be an attack on me personally. I ask a question I did not attack you. What is your deal?

Answer 1

I found that as I went down the list of candidates and voted for each individual office, each candidate I voted for was a Republican. I did this for several elections, say, maybe over the last 24 years at least, so, I still find myself voting for each and every individual office, but they all seem to end up Republican. My dad, a very avid Republican, talked with me for decades about learning to "think for yourself". That quote of his, which became "a quote" of his because he said it so much over all my life, was instilled in me over decades of "discussions" that felt like debates every time, and if he sensed my agreeing with him just to be nice or to avoid the work a good discussion took, he took the other side, just to make me think for myself, no matter what the issue. My dad's dead now, of old age (81), but I live and love that lesson he "carved" into me over the decades of my life, and I love giving you this answer because I like to think he's in Heaven and can see that all his efforts were not in vein, and he'd be proud of himself and me. But, I would be extremely surprised if, in the next election, any one of the candidates I voted for would be other than Republican. It's just the smartest way to vote. God Bless you.

Answer 2

Im one of the very few that vote for the BEST candidate regardless of their party affiliation. I have been"yelled at" because of it since I am very active in politics (I'm also a political consultant). It really annoys me that people are so swayed into voting for candidates that they truly don't know anything about and dont even try to check on them themselves. That happened in our district last year and we were stuck with a horrible state rep. Turns out, he's not the 2nd coming they portrayed him to be (and yes, he was a Republican) and he made it so he almost had to resign (he's NOT running on "08 which is almost rare for a freshman rep)
Meanwhile, a good man (and more qualified) was overlooked due to the fact that he was on the democratic ticket (we are 74% republican here..but it's changing as more people move here) so, our district suffers and it's the voters fault.

Bottom line: People should flex their intelligence and make their own decisions when choosing someone to represent you.

Answer 3

This question sets up a false dichotomy. People who vote a party line do, for the most part, think for themselves. They've looked at the parties enough to recognize which one better represents their views, and thus they vote to give that party power across the line, which will maximize expression of their views.

Our government is organized according to parties. If I generally agree with the Democratic Party, it is probably not in my best interest to vote for a Republican candidate for senator, often even if I like that particular personality better than the Democratic opponent. The Republican will not vote with the other Democrats I agree with, and may even prevent them from having a majority.

I am more inclined to believe, as a political scientist and a close observer of politics, that people who vote alternately for Ds and Rs have not figured out their basic values, or have not learned clearly enough how our political system works.

Also, polls show that most people who claim they are "independent" actually cast most of their votes for one party.

Answer 4

It is absolutely amazing to me that people look at one of the two American parties and say...wow, I agree with 100% of what they do.

As an independant moderate it drives me absolutely nuts. People wonder why everything becomes so political, but every issue is black & white and the other side is 100% wrong with all issues. Look at how political the fires in California is becoming. What ever happened to "politics end at the water's edge and when Americans are in danger".

My favorite quote is from an old political analyst at ABC (can't remember his name). "If you aren't a Democrat when you are young you are heartless. If you aren't a Republican when you are older you don't have a job. If you toe either party line you don't have a brain for yourself".

I mean what happens if you are pro-life AND anti-Iraq War? Or against taxes AND against military buildups? (Not saying that this is my philosophy). You end up voting for the least bad.

EDIT: Margaret. You say that those that are independent have not figured out their basic values. But why should our basic values fall into one of two parties. What if your basic values tell you that a woman's right to choose is a fundamental right but that the government should not get involved in sponsoring health care. What if you think a strong military is important to the security of the nation but believe that the government should also give health care to those without jobs. (Again not my beliefs, but an example). How could you choose one of the two parties. You have basic values, but it doesn't fit in with the two political parties that are running America. Why wouldn't you vote for the candidate that best supports what you believe? Regardless of party affiliation.

Answer 5

Rachel, regrettably via saying something like "i understand that if each actual follower of Christ voted in this previous election, we does no longer have a expert-determination candidate as our next president", you exhibit some point of blindness to the full political technique. regrettably, on an identical time as Christians, we are able to no longer handle to pay for to be single situation electorate. Bush became professional-existence, and this became the least of our concerns in the process the 8 years of his term. Being a single situation voter facilitates you to label political lack of know-how as being a good Christian, while that's no longer that black and white. I evaluate myself independent. I even have voted for the two Republicans and Democrats. i do no longer vote for somebody by way of fact of social gathering, nor do I vote according to one situation.

Answer 6

Each party embodies an ideology and philosophy.

One must consider these superordinate and overriding ideologies and philosophies before considering the individual.

For example if the Republican party platform supports a pro-life philosophy and an anti government supported children's health care policy and I am pro-choice and support a government funded children's health care policy, then it would be very difficult for me to vote for a Republican who ostensibly supports his party's platform. Vice-versa if I am a Republican looking at a Democratic candidate.

Answer 7

As a life long Republican, voting the party line is choosing the best candidate.

Answer 8

The best candidate for me is generally the one from the party I support that shares my values. If and when there is an exception to this I will vote accordingly.

Answer 9

Because they don't want to think for themselves.

And I dare say you will find many more people voting a straight Democratic ticket than voting a straight Republican ticket.

Answer 10

Its like an experiment I read about. They took 10 monkeys. Put 5 in a cage and 5 out of sight. They put a banana in the cage and set up a fire hose. When one of the monkeys goes for the banana, they hose him and the other four monkeys. They keep doing this until eventually if one of them goes for the banana, the other four beat him down out of fear of getting the hose again. Then they swap one monkey in the cage for one that was out of sight. That monkey goes for the banana and gets beat down. Then you swap another monkey. Eventually you have 5 monkeys in the cage that never got hosed but will beat any of them that goes for the banana. Why? They don't know. It was like that when I got here so I just went along with it.