Survey: How many identify themselves as supporting a third (political) party, and actually vote that way?

[glenn1]

Do you identify yourself as a third party supporter (Libertarian, Green, Reform, fill in the blank), and do you actually vote that way come election time?

 

[ggavinmoss]

I am not... but for those who I know that talk one way and vote another... I have two explanations.

(1) They say their vote won't count.
This is dumb because 1 vote is 1 vote is 1 vote, irrespective of the party. I think this is just a matter of people wanting to have the possibility of choosing the "winning side."

(2) They dislike 1 candidate more than they like their own 3rd party candidate.
An interesting tactic that I disagree with less that the first one.

As for myself, I try to judge each candidate on his/her merits, but despite my best intentions do feel the block voting forces weighing on me.

-geoff

 

[pyonir]

i don't affiliate with any one party. i listen to them all, and the one that is the least wacked out, i vote for them.

 

[SWirth86]

I vote (if I could.......) on whichever candidate, IMO, would best serve the United States. I;m not a supporter of a certain Party, I dont really care about Parties.

You must vote for one of us!
I think I;m going to vote for a Third Party candidate!
Go Ahead! Throw your vote away!

The sad thing is, so many people believe that. When people say, "I'm not going to vote for a Third Party Candidate because theyll never win.", I want to beat some sense into them. You dont get anything for voting for the guy that wins, its not a bet or anything. Stupid people are stupid.

 

[FoBoT]

yes

as of 1998

i am libertarian and i voted for harry browne in the '00 election

Neal Boortz is highly responsible for this

 

[woodie1]

For the past few years I've found myself voting against someones views rather than supporting a particular party.

 

[StattlichPassat]

Nope, I am a Conservative Republican.

 

[Pheran]

Yup, libertarian here too.

 

[bulldawg]

I would support a third party candidate if there was one worth it.

 

[smp]

I hate them all. I don't understand how libertarianism can be a party. Libertarianism is actually very close to anarchy in it's ideologies, except that anarchy is decentralized.

 

[Red Dawn]

I'm registered as an Independant. I have yet to vote for anybody that wasn't either a Republican or a Democrat. I voted for John McCain in the last Election (Seeing as I thought at the time Bush was a retard and Gore was a goof) I have since changed my opinion of Bush.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: smp
Libertarianism is actually very close to anarchy in it's ideologies

i think "very close" is an overstatement

when was the last time the average citizen sat down and read a law book?
if the common citizen doesn't know all the millions of laws they are subject to, then how do they follow them?

they do it by using their common sense and morality/ethics, it isn't necessary to have a law about every little detail of our lives

 

[smp]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: smp Libertarianism is actually very close to anarchy in it's ideologies

i think "very close" is an overstatement when was the last time the average citizen sat down and read a law book? if the common citizen doesn't know all the millions of laws they are subject to, then how do they follow them? they do it by using their common sense and morality/ethics, it isn't necessary to have a law about every little detail of our lives

Law is _supposed_ to reflect morals .. but morals are culturally defined, so who's morals are right? The right's? The churches? The Palestinians? The Jews? The "Americans"? I say we abolish culture, pick your own and pick your own morals. Now all of a sudden you need laws again, but who picks those? Fvck laws too, I believe in self-determination and self-reliance. If you're not smart and quick enough to keep your head above water than just hope someone will help you out, if not, you're getting weeded.

 

[Beau]

I don't consider myself part of any party. I'll vote for whomever I agree most with.

 

[Electric Amish]

I am, usually, but I don't vote at all.

amish

 

[WombatWoman]

In a shocking instance of hardening of the smarteries, I actually voted for Ross Perot in the 1992 Presidential election. I did so as a "protest vote" because I was pissed off at Bush and I despised Clinton.

It was people like me whose "protest votes" unintentially put Clinton into office.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: WombatWoman
In a shocking instance of hardening of the smarteries, I actually voted for Ross Perot in the 1992 Presidential election. I did so as a "protest vote" because I was pissed off at Bush and I despised Clinton.

It was people like me whose "protest votes" unintentially put Clinton into office.

Well way to go WW. You just screwed us royally Women.... Jeez, sometimes!

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: WombatWoman
In a shocking instance of hardening of the smarteries, I actually voted for Ross Perot in the 1992 Presidential election. I did so as a "protest vote" because I was pissed off at Bush and I despised Clinton.

It was people like me whose "protest votes" unintentially put Clinton into office.

same here, i was displeased with bush/gulf war and the "read my lips - no new taxes" statement, so i voted for perot too

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
yes

as of 1998

i am libertarian and i voted for harry browne in the '00 election

Neal Boortz is highly responsible for this

hahaha you wasted your vote

 

[kevinthenerd]

I hate the League of Women Voters. I have nothing against women's suffrage or anything like that (so don't misquote me!) but they kept Ralph Nader out of the debate of 2000! How democratic is that? He had a good percentage of the polls.

The election of 2000 was fixed. The U.S. Supreme Court had no jurisdiction over a state's electoral college vote, but because they were mostly Republican and elected by our current president's father, they ignored that. What about the Supreme Court of Florida? They were elected by the current president's brother.

He's the education candidate, right? Why is his brother's state number 49 out of 50 in education? Texas isn't doing too well either. The conservatives don't want to tax enough money from the people to pay for anything, but they still complain when nothing can get done on a shoestring budget.

The democratic party is very hypocritic, with more soft money contribution dollars and fewer hard money donations than the Republican party. Yeah, that supports the "common man."

As a Catholic, I am pro-life in both abortion and capital punishment. I think they should both be illegal. I guess this leaves me to be independent. In order to get a primary vote of some kind, I went Green.

The two-party system has too many measures set up to stop a third-party candidate, but people have the power to change that. If EVERYBODY gets out of that mind-set to go one way or another, something just might happen. It never will, however, as long as the media is controlled by money and the people by the media. This country is controlled by where the money is.