Beyond the Ballot - Who You Are and Who You Voted

[Eloquent Liar]

Feel free to delete/lock/what have you this thread if it's out of place or uncalled for (I still don't really know how forum rules work, to be perfectly honest), but there's so much shaming and chastising over who people voted for without actually seeing what a person is like, and why they voted for - or against - certain people, and I think a lot of people on both sides of the fence have forgotten that voters for both parties come from all walks of life. So I suppose this is a small proposition to let people say what they want to about themselves, who they voted for - either in the presidential election or their own national election - or what party they stand for, and just have everyone realize that no, just because somebody votes for a candidate that you consider evil, that does not mean that the candidate does not have values that others approve of, and that does not mean everybody who voted for that person is inherently evil.

I guess that means this thread would need a bit of transparency, so I'll start.

Within the course of this election, I went from being a far left Bernie "Feel the Bern" Sanders Democrat to a more moderate libertarian (.....I think). Whether that's impressive or sad, I'm not quite sure myself. I come from a family that's rather conservative on both sides, although moreso on my father's side, and while I had felt ashamed for the first couple of months that my dad was more willing to vote for Trump than he was for Clinton, I understood why.

Now, I'm a pansexual, nonbinary DFAB WOC with mental disabilities (see how many buzzword minorities I fit into? Do you see where this is going?), so of course everybody would expect me to vote Clinton, or write-in Sanders although he explicitly stated that he did not apply for write-in candidacy. However, to be completely honest, if I had voted for one of the major parties in this year's election (I didn't vote at all due to logistics issues), I would have voted for Trump. Had I done my research into Jill Stein, I may have voted for her - granted, my insight into the third parties this year wasn't up to par, even though I know a lot of my non-HRC friends voted Green - but Gary Johnson, god bless his soul, wasn't exactly my cup of tea (party) this year. So between HRC and DJT, I would honestly have chosen Trump. While everybody all points fingers at Trump and calls him a liar who always switches sides, Clinton's political record isn't as stable as her supporters may tout it as. And Trump may be an idiot, but he's an idiot who says what he thinks, while the Clinton family has just had too much corruption and scandal - things far worse than just tax fraud - that I wouldn't be able to trust Hillary's foreign policy as far as I could throw her.

For me, this election wasn't hinging on domestic policy - both of them have played an endless game of Reversi with their own stances on social issues, including gay rights - but on foreign policy, and Clinton's history doesn't sit so well with me. That doesn't mean I don't think his domestic policy is a load of crap, just that I didn't trust what either campaign was putting out in terms of it.

> I'm also hoping beyond hope that this thread doesn't devolve into name-calling and finger-pointing, so please, keep it civil.

[Shamitako]

Welp, I can't seem to stop lurking (maybe I'm back? IDK. I just wanted to see how freaked out Reborn was). So I am here, taking a chance to explain myself. Good luck with civility, OP-san ^^

I didn't vote in the primary. In Ohio, choosing a party and voting in that party's primary are the same thing and as someone who abhors the current party system more than she abhors the candidates it fields, I was unwilling to cast a vote towards any of the primary races

On Tuesday I did indeed vote for Trump. There's a few reasons why.

Number one among them is this thing called the TPP which I feel very strongly about (it's the main reason I didn't vote for Johnson). And I trust Trump not to sign it. Much more than Hillary, who I really don't feel is as antagonistic as she should be towards it.

Trump has fairly consistently taken a stance of returning power to the states. As I'm not a fan of how either of the major parties have been dealing with states' rights, this greatly appeals to me.

Trump is hopefully going to cause change. Either he'll manage to do something right and things will change because he's very different or he'll royally fuck up and things will change because they won't have a choice anymore. Whatever the case I'd prefer it to the mess that put him on the ballot in the first place.

And finally, there's good ol' Pepegate. Now, in and of itself this isn't anything special--just a typical IRL news fail--but it made it a lot harder for me to take Hillary's campaign seriously

While there are other things that mattered, they sort of evened out for me? It's hard to explain since there's no one-to-one correlation. I guess I just don't feel very strongly about Trump's extreme assholery or Hillary's excessive corruption or what have you. These are the few points that influenced me to be mildly less disappointed that Trump won than I would have been had Hillary won

[Login]

Like im not even close to USA... (MidEu) 1. i was rather curious how you people think about it in US because from the view of Europeans its like choosing less evil option,

by that logic i would choose Hillary but nah.. 2. even if im not from USA it still affect even other countries from all over the world by economics by politics and many other things and in my country so far there are two groups of people those who want to cooperate with West (Nato,USA,EUn) or those who want to go for East with our Slovan brothers Russians and it greatly mirrors even in the political scene but in my country its such a mess anyway *ahhh* :/ anyway i hope u will be so far satisfied what you guys have there ;D

Little bonus in our country this is what we ( yea at least 90% of people in my country) " Voliť v tunajších Amerických voľbách je ako keby si si mal vybrať či stupíš do kravského alebo koňského hovna. "

Raw Translation : Vote in this year American president selection is like choosing if you would rather step on Cows or Horse *ehm*... (no harm in this man)

[HughJ]

I voted Johnson

I traditionally lean Republican despite having comparatively liberal social views (pro-choice, marriage equality, transgender rights and medical validation). Normally I can overlook the conflicting (or absent) social rhetoric of Republican candidates regarding my personal views, but this time around I felt Donald Trump was too inflammatory to get behind

Essentially I'd say I was NeverHillary but also couldn't bring myself to vote for Trump, so I settled on the middle-right Libertarian Party (whose nominee, by the way, often leans left of strict libertarian principles). I did so in the hopes that he would get enough nation support in the actual election to receive millions in federal funding for future campaigns, but alas, I do not think this occurred

I would have been content with the outcome of the election either way. I saw Hillary as a sort of Obama rerun, ideally taking the ideas of minimum wage bump and infrastructure rebuilding from Bernie. I saw Trump as a conservative candidate who would have been able to enact change in the form of a more isolationist policy, restoration of ties with Russia (which is happening, wooo), and promotion of socially liberal concepts (LGBTQ+ community, gentrification of inner cities)

I can definitely get behind people who voted for any candidate provided they put a good amount of logical thought into their choice, and I can at least understand those who resigned themselves to a straight ticket or a non-vote.

Leon, do you mind explaining the allure of the Green Party? I know their proposed improvements in terms of student debt and government revamping sound good, but Stein provided little to no explanation as to how. Few of the candidates did, really, but she's the most widely-voted candidate I know little to nothing about.

[Eloquent Liar]

Like im not even close to USA... (MidEu) 1. i was rather curious how you people think about it in US because from the view of Europeans its like choosing less evil option,

by that logic i would choose Hillary but nah.. 2. even if im not from USA it still affect even other countries from all over the world by economics by politics and many other things and in my country so far there are two groups of people those who want to cooperate with West (Nato,USA,EUn) or those who want to go for East with our Slovan brothers Russians and it greatly mirrors even in the political scene but in my country its such a mess anyway *ahhh* :/ anyway i hope u will be so far satisfied what you guys have there ;D

To be fair, a vast majority of voters - most moderates, at least - did see it as a "lesser of two evils". That's what happens when a country has a two party system that makes it very hard for a third party to break out of this cycle of red-blue-red-blue. As for satisfaction...well, there have been protests around the country, but I haven't heard of any riots yet (correct me if I'm wrong, anybody), so I'll have to say I'm satisfied, myself. I'm less scared of the politicians themselves and more scared of the general populace who follow them.

Leon, do you mind explaining the allure of the Green Party? I know their proposed improvements in terms of student debt and government revamping sound good, but Stein provided little to no explanation as to how. Few of the candidates did, really, but she's the most widely-voted candidate I know little to nothing about.

Like I said, I hadn't done much research into her stance, and frankly I still haven't, since the election's over and it's a moot point for another four years, at which point the campaigns for each party may change drastically. However, from what I heard down the grapevine, she was a strong candidate, and those that you mentioned - mostly the student debt because, well, I go to a liberal college where most students are in debt enough to last their entire life - were among the top that I had heard from my consistently GP friends. Like you said, though, the what was a lot stronger than the how.

[pmegakid]

At the end of the day Clinton blew a 3-1 lead :P :P but on all serious it this election shows how much people have lost faith and trust in the government and both parties need to take look at there members and change. Even to I am democrat I still can understand where some of the republicans are coming from on certain subjects and that how government suppose to work everybody working together for the people from every walk of life and not just few. Let just hope there attitude change before it to late

[Guest]

I normally do not disclose political views publicly, but I'll try my hand at it, and keep it short and simple.

I am center-left in economical issues and centrist in social issues. I think there's good that can come from both center-left and center-right parties, and for the good of this country I absolutely believe that both liberals and conservatives need to come together and forge a singular ideal on how to actually get things DONE. There is no alternative option. Unity must be achieved, or America will grow weak. Division is dangerous. I also believe that being too far left or right is a very bad thing, as well as being too center. For a centrist, I think it's ideal that they should surround themselves with people hailing from both left and right ideologies.

Originally, I did not feel much emotion at all towards any of the candidates. I dismissed Trump before any of his bigger, more controversial issues came out, thinking a businessman wasn't a particularly good fit for our country (coming from a guy who lived in a city that had a businessman as mayor, hello Mike Bloomberg).

That said, while I absolutely think Sanders would've done better than Hillary in the polls, it is hard for me to completely align with him ideologically. He's too left-leaning. There's not enough balance. The man has lots of charisma, which did catch my attention, but nothing to the point where I would say 'I'm going to cast my ballot for this man.' and really mean it. If he did make it into office, I would be banking my hopes on people being able to filter out a lot of his left-leaning policies to something more balanced.

I never really felt much emotion towards Hillary, even as I casted my ballot for her. It was less about voting for her, and more about stopping Trump. Why did I want Trump to lose? That's easy.
Fear. Fear for what could happen to minorities and people that identify as lesbian/gay, bisexual or transgender. And not by Trump's hand, either - but by stubborn people in the White House who Trump would have to hassle with, now empowered by an all-red White House, the first time in eleven years. And by malicious people who leeched on to Trump's campaign, who sought to undo progress towards tolerance in the past few years.

My true allegiance lies with the hopes of a third party candidate one day making it to the White House. However, none of the candidates this year were truly that viable - neither Johnson nor Stein.

I'm cautiously optimistic. If it were not for that fear of what could happen to LGBT individuals and minorities, I would have voted Trump. I do not think Trump is as bad as people make him out to be, and his shifting allegiances may be a sign that he leans more center than one could imagine. I do wish however that the White House was not swept entirely by the Republicans, as I believe in having some balance. I think this will put a damper on Trump's first two to four years, as he will have to battle it out with the more old-style Republicans over various issues. But I honest to god don't think that Trump will mess up as bad as people think he will. At least, give the man a chance to settle into the White House and let him do his thing.

Pence, however... the less said about that guy, the better. Another reason why I ultimately casted my ballot for Hillary, as it ties into the reasons stated above. Remember though: Trump is president, NOT Pence.

(and for those who want Trump to go bye bye, remember who takes over the President's spot if they prematurely finish before the four year term is up.)

[Deleted User]

I did not and will not vote in this broken, two party system, unless the very slim chance someone I consider to be an ideal candidate comes along.

Trump is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. Oh did I mention the chocolates actually expired 3 years ago? Hillary has so much baggage she couldn't even fit it all on Air Force One.

[Hiss13]

Like Jericho, I too did not vote. I could not, in good conscience, vote for any of the candidates who were running.