Four questions about opinions and politics.

My mind has been made up since early 2008. Nothing has changed since Obama first started running for president in his platform and his policies have had the same results as every other time they’ve been tried. There is nothing that would change my mind since a few abstract promises at the end of campaign have very little bearing on what will actually happen. I am voting both for Romney and against Obama. I liked Romney over McCain last time and I still like Romney. Obama has had 4 years to make positive changes and all he’s done is destroy our economy. Why, oh why, would anyone give him another chance to wreak even more havoc?

1. Yes, my mind was made up also in 2008 (actually, in 2003).

2. No, I made the mistake of voting for the wrong man back in 1980, and vowed to never make that mistake again.

3. Even the most egregious behavior by my preference would not have me vote for his main opponent, I’d be more likely to vote for a minor party candidate.

4, Both, voting “for” my candidate, his policies and his party and “against” his opponent and the opponent’s party.

1. No, I haven’t decided who I will be voting for yet. I probably won’t decide for sure until a lot closer to voting time.
2. I’ve never been one to vote for someone based on their political party. I’ve voted for people in various parties during each election I’ve voted in so far.
3. Considering I’m not even sure who I’m voting for yet, there are a lot of things that could sway my vote one way or another. I will be paying attention to what focuses the candidates are planning to have during the rest of the campaign and deciding from there.
4. I usually vote “for” one candidate and that candidates policies. If, for some reason, I don’t like either person’s policies, then I might vote “against” the one I dislike the most. (For example, if one was going to focus on repealing something I feel strongly about, but the other was going to leave it alone, I’d vote for the one that was going to leave it along, even if I didn’t like the other aspects of his campaign if there was no one else I liked better.)

1. I voted at the polls in 2008 but refused to cast a vote for president. I will probably vote for president this time and if I do, I know whom
2. No
3. No
4. Against

1. I do know who I am voting for. I have known for a year.
2. Nothing.
3. Nothing.
4. For a candidate and their policies.

My answer is like @marinelife.‘s I’m intrigued by @Jaxk analysis of success versus failure. In 2008 we were losing over 700,000 jobs per month. The Dow Jones Industrials had lost half their value. The major banks were all in freefall and in danger of a Great Depression style meltdown. Bush had pushed through the TARP to bail out the banks to the tune of nearly $800 billion. Apparently that is @Jaxk‘s idea of great success, because he wants to abandon the policies that turned the job losses into 2 straight years of private-sector job growth, and brought the Dow back to its proper level. Oh, and by the way, the same sort of policies worked during the Great Depression after Republican tax cuts for the rich and refusal to regulate has crashed the economy. Ditto for the Clinton years.

Instead, he wants to return to the policy ideas that produced the Great Recession—only this time he want even bigger tax cuts for billionaires, even less regulation of Wall Street, and even more defense spending and unnecessary wars (Syria, Iran) so we can stack up even more national debt. Amazing. Apparently @Jaxk years for depressions and sees a healthy economy as failure.

Let’s take it easy, I have a feeling that @rojo put this in General for a reason…

1. I guess my mind was made up in 2008.

2. No

3. I doubt it, because

4. I’m primarily voting against a candidate and his policies, which I fear.

Wow, @ETpro thinks we have a healthy economy. No wonder he’s satisfied with 1% growth, 8.2% unemployment, and gas hanging around $4. What could be better?

1. Is your mind made up as to who you are voting for in the presidential election and if so, when did you make your mind up? I thought that John Huntsman would have made a decent president. When I saw how the party treated him and supported downright crazy and stupid candidates I became certain that the only candidate that I could support was Obama.

2. Has ANYTHING at all happened that made you switch from one party to another at some point in the campaign and if so, what? Truthfully, I was thinking of switching from Democrat to Republican. The Democrats were sitting back and letting Republicans control the show and discussion. I think that if people like me joined the Republican party we could get them back to being a serious party like when Eisenhower was president.

3. Short of a candidate committing murder (and honestly, would that even do it?), is there anything that would make you switch within the next 3½ months? If Romney renounced his support for the Ryan Budget, re-affirmed his support for universal health care, and proposed an agenda that go rid of the “free trade” agreements, promised support of the anti-trust laws and anti monopoly laws, and returned to his previous Pro-Choice stand, I would definitely vote for him.

4. Are you voting “for” or “against” a candidate and/or their policies? I have the luxury of doing both, I am for Obama and definitely against Romney.

@bookish1 Thanks, you are correct.
I get the feeling that nothing anyone will say here will convince someone of the opposite camp to jump sides, I really am not asking for political discourse, there is plenty of that elsewhere.
I am interested in whether all the time, money and effort expended makes any actual impact on the views of Americans or is just an exercise in futility.

1.

2.

3.

4. For the second time in a row I will be voting against a candidate.

I have decided who I am voting for & it is NOT Romney. Obama is far from perfect, but of the two candidates, he is by far less dangerous to our over-all economy & our social services. To me, the election of Romney to the Presidency would be a total disaster, because he would give the military ‘carte blanche’ & he has stated that he would definitely cut medicare, medicaid, food stamps, & unemployment benefits. All of these things are necessary in order to save the American people. If the Republicans had not chosen to try to make sure that Obama was a one-term President & had been willing to work with him on anything – I think that our recovery would be much farther along.

1. I learned enough about Barack Hussein Obama during 2008 election to realize that I will very likely never place a vote for him (again). I made the mistake of voting for Obama in the primary thinking that he was a weaker candidate than Hillary Clinton. Sorry, my bad!

2. Nothing has really happened in the campaign so why would I consider changing parties.

3. I would have to develop a brain tumor, have a major stroke or develop a severe mental illness before I’ld switch to the modern Democratic Party.

4. I’m voting for Mitt Romney AND against Barack Hussein Obama.

1. Not really. I have been unable to be interested in this race, mostly because I don’t like either Romney or Obama.

2. I am officially non-partisan. Less officially, I am ideologically similar to people who are politically affiliated with the Republican party. I am also ideologically similar to fewer people affiliated with the Democratic party, on different subjects.

3. Nothing ventured, nothing lost.

4. Against, unless someone just like me (but more charming) pops out of the shadows in the eleventh hour.

1. Nothing has changed my mind since 2008. I will vote the same way.
2. No.
3. If they have conclusive evidence of him being involved in Sandusky like behavior.
4. I don’t let dislike influence my vote. I almost never vote against someone, though I did with Bush Cheney.

1. My mind is made up, and has been for quite a while.
2. No.
3. It’d have to be something very, very bad.
4. In this particular case, I am voting for Obama and his policies and against Romney and his policies. In some elections, I have voted for the lesser of two evils.

My mind is not made up, thought I will most likely plug my nose and vote for Obama. As a progressive, I’ve found Obama to be a colossal disappointment. This article describes my frustrations quite well. I may switch to a third party candidate, as there is nothing that will convince me to vote for Romney.

1. It would take some very unexpected surprises to sway me right now. And that’s been my status for quite a while. I’d say my mind has been essentially made up ever since it became clear that Jon Huntsman would not be getting the nomination.

2. Nope.

3. It’s hard to imagine anything would change my mind. I already know that the candidates have diametrically opposed views on the issue most near and dear to me, and it’s hard to imagine anything that would convince me to vote against my beliefs on that issue.

4. My vote is against Romney more than it is for Obama, but it’s also for Obama. I’m not jumping with joy over Obama, but he’s definitely the better choice in my book.

And for god’s sakes people, what on earth does emphasizing his middle name prove?

1) Yes, as soon as the run-up to the 2008 election showed what the Republican party has become. I briefly considered McCain in ‘08 until he named his running mate, and it’s all gone downhill from there.

2) Yes, there were a few potentials in the running for the 2012 GOP nomination, but they could not get the support of the GOP base because they were not extremists.

3) Yes; the Republicans nominating a real candidate for the first time in many years.

4) Both. I support equality, am pro-choice, and prefer economic policies that are modestly successful over those that are wildly ruinous. Therefore, I am going to vote against any candidate that espouses the same economic policies that @Jaxk canonizes, who seeks a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, or otherwise proves themselves to either not have the best interests of teh nation as a whole in mind or who is batshit fucking insane. By the same token, I will vote for any candidate that seeks to reverse the economic harm that has been cause by decades of trickle-up, who feels that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, and who honestly wants a smaller, less intrusive government.

@jerv You call yourself pro choice.

Can we assume you would be against any candidate that threatened to take away your choice to not buy health insurance?

@Crashsequence2012 No candidate is perfect, but when you way that against the ability to choose who I buy stuff from due to monopolies, my choice to surf porn on the net, my choice to not adhere strictly to the Judeo-Christian ethic, my choice to have kids learn about the Theory of Evolution, and many other choices that would be denied to me by buying into that brand of crazy, I consider the cost of health insurance relatively minor.
Besides, if you don’t buy insurance, my taxes pay for your healthcare anyways; how is that fair to me, you freeloader?!

I take it your last line is sarcasm regarding Obamacare as thinly veiled weatlh distribution.

@Crashsequence2012 I have no wish to continue this in a General topic, so this reply to answer your question will be my last here. No, it wasn’t sarcasm, but if you have such an issue with wealth redistribution, you should take issue when the wealth gets redistributed to tax shelters in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands, or when you bust your ass for years yet your income increases less than the cost of living while all of the financial gains from your hard work go into your boss’ pocket.
I value historical facts, provable facts, and sound logic over disproven or discredited theories and religious dogma. Therefore I cannot vote for any of the current breed who dare profane and despoil the good name of Republicans. In fact, we are polar opposites, which is sad because I actually embrace the ideals that the Republican party used to stand for; the very same values that current Republicans either ignore or reject.
Until their quest for an Oligarchal police state ends, I will oppose the Republican party with everything I have. And if you truly are a Republican, so will you.

Fair enough.

I think that in time you will find that we aren’t polar opposites.

My approach has been to abandon the label of republican.

Oh no, @jerv! Now you’ll have to go back to being labelled a republican to get away! ;-)

1. Yes, as soon as I saw the republican field.

2. Not during this campaign, no. Though my opposition to a Romney presidency has grown over the course. Previous campaigns, yes. I am an independent, though the current strain of Republicans will need to make a hard shift before I’ll consider them again.

3. Not really. The platforms would basically have to flip.

4. Both. Started mostly for, but again my anger at the opposition has been steadily rising.

1 I don’t care for either prez candidate so I may skip that box
2 no,still a registered Indy
3 no
4 probably against. Nothing is going to change either way. They all lie.

1. No, my mind is not made up. I make my decisions on all races the night before Election Day on the basis of the research I have done up to that point. Theoretically, I remain open to last minute revelations on Election Day. As I typically vote on my first break, however, this has never come up in practice.

2. I am not a member of any party, and I do not take party into consideration when making voting decisions. And as I have not made any final decisions yet, nothing has made me switch from any given candidate to another. If the question is whether or not who is currently in the lead for receiving my vote has changed, the answer is “no.”

3. Yes. That’s why I do not make my decisions until the end.

4. I reject the dichotomy. I check the box according to where I think my vote will do the most good. The candidates are only part of the equation, particularly given the extremely large gap between what politicians can promise and what they can realistically accomplish.

Yes
No
No
For – Prez Obama has done his best given ongoing situations. But I have to admit that the opposition party seems so removed from my reality, that I hope to hell they lose their influence in the legislative process. And toward that end, I am also firmly voting “against” them.

1) Yes, My mind was made up before the last election
2) Saw the current crop of Republicans, didn’t even briefly consider it.
3) Already voted, so decision will (cannot now) change.
4) For both candidate and policies. Haven liked everything he did, but look at who we could have had for VP. Obama did the best he could to clean up the Bush mess. I had something already that makes insurance and medication expensive and hard to get, so any move toward single payer insurance good to have, and I think that President Obama’s national health care is a small step in the correct direction. I find it rather amusing that in Romney’s latest attack ad is the EXACT same thing that Obama promised to do four years ago. ANY failure that President Obama has had in attempting to work on with both parties has been in his being blocked by the Republicans who have promised since day one that he would be a one term president. We all (US anyway) have to admit that that we need to abolish the two party system. Both parties will block that anyway possible because that would make it MUCH harder for them to remain in power, and let’s face it (again in the US anyway) the benefits are better for them that for any other people in the country. They are never going to agree to anything that would potentially block them from power.