Time for a GE poll

[WeDidIt]

Here are the choices. There are no other choices in American presidential politics, no matter how people try to fool themselves.

[dubeskin]

1. B-b-b-b-but, we still don't have a nominee!

:eyes: :sarcasm: Obama.

[hayu_lol]

2. To be realistic, you should have included...

abstaining from voting for a presidential candidate. That is an option.

[davidinalameda]

3. abstaining in November is a vote for McCain

don't let anyone say different

[WeDidIt]

4. I do

You simply don't vote in my poll. IT produces an identical result to abstaining in the GE.

[Frank Booth]

5. I see a landslide coming in November! (assuming this is a representative sample)

[Selatius]

6. It isn't exactly democratic when you have a two-party grip on power.

A poll such as this that limits the choice down to two only aggravates this in my mind.

People always have a choice. They did, and they will have a choice. Half of this country doesn't vote. Of that half, a good portion of them don't because they don't care or because they are uninformed and disconnected from the larger world, but there are many others who don't vote because they don't like the two party system or the choices it offers people.

We live in a country where the Electoral College, not the popular vote, counts. Given the peculiarities of the Electoral College and safe states, I could vote which way I wanted because Mississippi hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1976, and winner-take-all rules automatically mean all, not just a portion, of the state's electoral votes go to the winner. This means those in the minority who didn't vote with the majority have no dog in the game. I'm of the minority. I could easily vote third party and not affect the Electoral College math at the end of the day. However, I couldn't say the same thing if I were living in, say, Ohio. There, I would have to vote for the Democrat to prevent the Repub from winning.

That said, I'm likely to vote for Obama, simply because Ralph Nader is helping no one at this point. Obama would be a fine president.

[WeDidIt]

8. I give you all available choices

IF you don't like what you see, you need not vote in the poll. The result is identical to what happens at the election.

IF you wish to vote third party, then pick John McCain (R) as the effect is the same as what happenes in the election.

The poll is valid and offers all the same choices you ahve in the general election.

[Selatius]

9. I dispute the second assertion of yours.

A vote for a third party would not necessarily benefit McCain. It depends on the platform of the third party. When you vote for a right wing party like Reform, you are more likely to hurt the Repub because its campaign platform more closely matches the Repubs than the Dems.

Politics 101. Your poll is not reflective of reality.

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. That's sophism

a vote for a party like the Reform Party or the Libertarian Party doesn't hurt the Republicans unless the people voting Reform or Libertarian would have voted Republican in the first place. It's about votes lost by major parties, not votes gained by third parties. Anyone who considers themselves a Democrat, a liberal, or a progressive and chooses to vote for a third party rather than Obama is helping McCain, because those are votes that would not have gone to McCain anyway.

[Selatius]

13. At this point, I believe Bob Barr would hurt McCain. But...

I'm not a right winger. I'm speaking of voters as a whole who may vote for a third party, regardless if they be right or left wing in stance.

I would only agree that a left winger voting for a left wing third party would hurt Obama if that left winger was in a swing state like Ohio. I view it through the lens of the Electoral College, not the popular vote. In battleground states, each and every vote does count. I would advise people in those battleground areas to vote for Obama, but in states where I live, such as Mississippi, people have the option of voting for the Giant Spaghetti Monster and still not affect the likely end result of all the EC votes going to McCain.

[baldguy]

12. Tell that to Al Gore.

[Selatius]

14. Reread what I said about party platforms. You're bringing in an irrelevant topic. nt

[TragedyandHope]

7. Fool me once

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A

[WonderGrunion]

10. Bob Barr

Has the Libertarian nomination and they have enough support structure to get on the ballot in all 50 states, plus whoever the Green Party candidate ends up being. But really, who here is going to poll vote for Bob Barr.

[WeDidIt]

15. Kick for more votes