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What if you hate both candidates?
John is 27 years old and lives in Chicago. Seven years ago, he voted in his first General Election. He voted for the Democrats because he thought that Hillary Clinton would be a good President and leader for the country.
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Four years later, he had the opportunity to vote. However, this time it was much harder. He didn’t want to vote for Trump, AND he didn’t want to vote for Biden. He thought that neither of them would make a good president or represent what he believed in.
What was John to do?
1. John could have just not voted. 38% of the country did exactly that. As it happens, it was actually the highest turnout for a general election in the last 100 years! John didn’t want to NOT vote, as he strongly believed in democracy and realized how much previous generations had fought for the right to vote.
2. John could have ignored who the potential President and/or Vice Presidents were and voted for the party that he felt represented his beliefs. His problem with voting for a party rather than a president was that he felt strongly against the candidates and by voting for a party, he would in effect, be voting for a candidate.
3. John could vote for the candidate there he disliked less. I’m not sure that choosing between 2 evils should be deciding factor on who to vote for.
4. John could vote for one of the smaller parties who wouldn’t have a chance in the election, and wouldn’t really have an effect. Was this actually better than not voting at all?
In your opinion, what should John have done? We’re interested in hearing from you about which of these options he should have chosen. Or perhaps you have another suggestion that you can tell us about in the comments.
Poll Results:
2 Responses
John should have voted in the primary for someone other than Biden (or Trump if he was a Republican). Too many people sit out during primary elections. Consequently, selection of a party’s candidate is left to the die hard party loyalists that always vote for the candidate that the party leaders choose. Unfortunately, the party leaders push the candidate that they believe can win in the general election and they don’t care if that person is even qualified. They only care that the party will win.
Vote for Ross Perot (again).