Thomas Massie used to be one of my favorite Congressmen. That was before he started going overboard trying to pander to the MAGA crowd. Hopefully, he'll settle down next year or after the midterms.
It seems like many members of Congress that I liked in the past, have been compromised by MAGA to varying degrees. I think that deep down, most of these GOP members of Congress don’t believe in the performative pandering they dish out to the MAGA crowd. I’ve heard from Steve Hayes that based on his off the record conversations with many of them, that what they believe and say privately is vastly different from what they assert publicly.
See my comment, above. It works both ways. Republicans pander and democrat socialists pander. You and I would probably never be elected so we complain on opinion media from our points of view.
As for Massie, to be fair he’s not anywhere near as nutty and unhinged as some of the other MAGA panderers and cultists(i.e. Greene, Boebert, Cawthorn). He refused to buy into the Big Lie and try to steal the election, to his credit. With that being said, Massie pandering to the Covid-Truther crowd and anti-vaxxers, is very disappointing.
The thing is Nancy, that Massie is not stupid, and he is actually a very smart guy. I’m convinced that he doesn’t truly believe in these Covid and vaccine trutherisms and conspiracy theories. Some of his constituents in his Kentucky district do though, and Massie panders to them and indulges in the lies they’ve bought into. I also used to like Massie too. So all this has been disappointing for me.
The Former Guy and Stacey Abrams have quite a bit in common. Both are election truthers and both are sore losers who refused to concede accept the outcome of their respective elections. In the case of the former President, it turned deadly on 1-6. In any case, there is nothing more I want than to see than Stacey Abrams lose in 2022. It is perhaps no surprise that Trump would rather have Abrams than Kemp, which shows that his personal grievances matter more than conservatism. That ought to be disqualifying even to voters who had a more positive view or Trump’s presidency.
Governor Kemp squeaked by in 2018, which was an election year very favorable to Democrats with Trump as sitting President. Also, congresswoman Karen Handel lost her House seat to progressive Democrat Lucy McBath after barely getting by Jon Ossoff in a special election in 2017. And all this was after then Congressman and later HHS Secretary Tom Price won in 2016 by 23 percent. Karen Handel lost a rematch in 2020, which was indicative Trump’s toxicity in the formerly GOP leaning Atlanta suburbs of Cobb and Gwinnett counties.
In contrast, 2022 is likely to be a much more favorable electoral climate for the GOP(so far), mainly due to the incompetence and solid left of center governance of Biden and the Democrats. Governor Kemp would have the advantage over Abrams even stronger than in 2018, had the Former Guy and his sycophants not been out to get revenge on those who refused to steal the election and acquiesced to the Big Lie. And Purdue represents Trump’s thirst for revenge against Kemp, Raffensperger, Sterling, and others who held firm against Trump’s attempt to steal Georgia in 2020. He isn’t so much running against Abrams as he is Kemp, and Georgia Democrats couldn’t be more pleased to have the Former Guy enter the race via Perdue. It’s like an early Christmas gift to the Democrats. If I were Abrams, I would be laughing my way to the bank.
I’m not from Georgia so I can’t vote in this gubernatorial election and primary. But if I were a resident in that state, I would vote for Kemp in the primary, and general election should he make it. I have such a low regard for both the Former Guy and Not-A-Governor, that I want them to fail hard in their objectives.
This is going to be an interesting race, and a good barometer to see to what extent the GOP has moved on or not moved on from Trump.
Although you can't vote, the flaw in what you want is that we who can vote must make a choice. If we want to be in the game, we may have to choose between your lowly regarded candidates if they make it through the primaries.
I do not know if Trump was trying to steal the Georgia vote but I know enough to never underestimate the capability for voter fraud in DeKalb and Fulton counties. Their election controls should be thoroughly investigated. I do not believe Trumpism and Republican policies turned off voters in Gwinnett and Cobb counties. Gwinnett changed because of the huge influx of immigrants and their first-generation offspring which has also been significant in DeKalb. Cobb County changed because of overflow from Fulton County.
It’s interesting how our discussions usually end up leading to Ron DeSantis. 😊
Among nonTrump voters on the right, there is a range of opinions on DeSantis. Some obviously like him , while others are not so amenable to him. Yet others are reserving judgment on the Florida governor. I do think that he will get a substantial amount of these voters, as they think DeSantis would be the ideal compromise candidate that can move the GOP forward past Trump by also winning voters who liked the policies of the Trump presidency. That would especially be the case if the Democrats were dumb enough to nominate Kamala Harris.
It’s a combination of both factors. The blueing of Cobb goes back many years, and certainly predates Trump. But there is no doubt that Trumpism accelerated that trend. After all, one doesn’t just go from a 23 point Tom Price win, to a very slim Karen Handel win, to a Karen Handel loss to a progressive Democrat in just the space of 3 years without factors that go beyond an influx of left leaning voters into Cobb. And the hemorrhaging was not just limited to the Atlanta suburbs, but suburbs nationwide. In some states and counties, the blue trend preexisted Trump but was hastened by the latter. In other states and counties, the GOP held firm until they reacted negatively to Trump. The decline in GOP performance in these areas was the most pronounced from the period of 2016 to 2020. There were quite a bit of right leaning suburbanites who refused to vote for Trump. They either voted for Biden, or a 3rd party candidate. But many of them likely also pulled the lever for GOP members of the House and Senate, which is the best explanation as to why many congressional Republicans outperformed Trump in the suburban counties across the US.
The policies in themselves were not the problem for the GOP so much as it was presidential behavior. The problem is with self-destructive presidential behavior that Trump engaged in, it dominated the oxygen in the room, making it nearly impossible for the GOP to capitalize on policy, which actually poll well.
And there is no doubt that Trump and his campaign tried to steal Georgia. Trying to pressure Brad Raffensperger to find votes to give him a win was a very damning indictment of the defeated President’s motives. Also getting GOP members of Congress to try to throw out slates of electors and attempt
to overturn an election reeks of electoral larceny. To be fair, the Democrats have had small numbers of its caucus in the House and Senate do this in 2000, 2004, 2016, which was despicable. Included among them is none other than House Democrat Jamie Raskin, who I find to be a hypocrite.
You bring some interesting points on voting. Most of the time, if my preferred candidate loses in the primary, I allow a lot of leeway in tolerating disagreements I may have with the GOP nominee and vote for the him or her. But I do have limits though, and when a candidate crosses the threshold of what I find tolerable, then I withhold my vote for him. My vote then is usually a write-in protest vote or a 3rd party vote. Trump is obviously an nonnegotiable deal breaker for
me, and there are no circumstances that I would ever vote for him. But I would vote for a candidate that I have some disagreements with on policy, as long as their behavior and character meets a reasonable standard. Which means accepting the outcome of elections they don’t like, and not trying to do things like throw out state electoral college slates(Those who did will never get my vote). One potential example is Ron DeSantis. I haven’t committed to him yet, as I’m sort of a wait and see on this guy. I agree him about 70-75 percent of the time, while among the 25-30 percent of the time I disagree, some of them are very strong disagreements. I would be open to voting for him in the general election depending on how he pans out. In some ways it was similar in 2008, when I had major disagreements with John McCain on policy matters.
People can play the game inside or outside the party. Ross Perot snagged about 19 percent of the vote in 1992, and both the Democrats and the GOP took notice of that. Ralph Nader almost certainly cost Al Gore the election in 2000, and the Democrats were upset about it. But they certainly made sure to move leftward to try to win over the Nader voters and keep them in their camp. And the Democrats of the present have moved significantly to the left to try to please those who “feel the Bern”. The downside to their strategy is that they are alienating many moderate to moderately left of center voters.
The demographics have changed. My opinion of the change in Cobb and Gwinnett voting is based on what I remember from somewhere around 1960. Back then, vehicle tags were assigned county numbers denoting their rank in population. I memorized a lot of those numbers. My home county was number forty-eight. Cobb was number eight (about 114,000 compared to about 768,000 today) and Gwinnett was number twenty (about 44,000 compared to about 954,000 today). Wherever all the additional citizens came from, it is very clear that it is not the same people voting now as it was even five years ago. The population of those counties has averaged increasing 10,000 to 15,000 per year in metro-Atlanta counties. In contrast, Muscogee County, home of Columbus GA and Fort Benning, was number four in population (about 159.000 compared to about 196,000 today).
I assume you will sit out the next presidential election if Trump is a nominee. I can't see anyone with your intelligence voting for any of the current democrat notables and voting for a third-party loser is the same as no vote.
Demographics have changed, but different demographics doesn’t necessary equate to more left leaning politics. In the case of Georgia it is probably the case. But in other states, the increased influx of nonwhite voters made Democrats assume that they would reap a permanent majority because of that. And as we know in states like Texas, Florida, and even in blue states like Virginia and New Jersey, nonwhite voters are drifting towards the GOP and away from the Democrats. The political realignment in suburban Atlanta had been going on for quite some time, but the pace was more gradual. It wasn’t until the GOP latched itself to Trump to when the bottom fell out, causing Brian Kemp to barely scrape by an extreme leftist in 2018, Karen Handel losing to Lucy McBath that same year, and Trump losing the state in 2020. Had the GOP not been hobbled with Trump’s self-destructive behavior, Chuck Schumer would be a minority leader, as Ossoff and Loeffler would’ve won. Karen Handel would still be in Congress, and Biden wouldn’t have carried Georgia, and wouldn’t be sitting in the White House today.
Voting 3rd party or doing a write-in isn’t the same as not voting, as it adds one vote to a tally not of the 2 parties. Sometimes though, the spoiler effect of third parties can force the 2 major parties to change, especially if there is a close race and the vote totals for a 3rd party exceed the winning margin.
As for the Democrats, they’ve gone way too far to the left, and I find myself disagreeing with their party platform on just about everything. That is why I can’t see myself voting for them so long as many of them embrace the policies that they do. This isn’t the party that would welcome a John Breaux, Sam Nunn, or Zell Miller within their ranks today.
I’m willing to compromise and vote for a candidate that are more populist than my views are. And I’m sure there are candidates who would please the populist leaning right that have decent behavior and character. I might not agree with them on every issue, but if they are willing to meet me halfway, I could meet them halfway.
However, Donald Trump is a complete dealbreaker for me, and especially given his post-election behavior leading up to 1-6. And the same goes for any Republican who voted to reject slates of electors on that day. As for voting 3rd party or voting write-ins, I’ve done it on regular occasion since 2006. I voted a mix of independent and GOP in various elections. A couple of
elections, I voted straight independent, while in other elections I vote straight GOP ticket. For the 2021 governors race in Virginia, I voted a straight Republican ticket. So it really depends on the candidate and the political climate, among other things.
A candidate like Ron DeSantis might be able to win a significant amount of right leaning voters who wouldn’t vote for Trump, but are open to voting for a conservative candidate that had a mix of populist and non populist conservative views.
So the part of the democrat platform you agree with is "Trump is Evil".
Sometimes voting third party is not the same as a no vote. It may lead to a runoff with a less desirable candidate being elected. Not voting can have the same effect by denying a more desirable candidate a majority. Of course, desirability is an individual matter. I personally like to have a say-so instead of wasting my vote and hoping for the best.
My comments on immigration being a huge factor is based on personal observation over a number of decades. I watched huge suburban areas turn into Hispanic and Asian enclaves where English was not the principal language judging from the business signs. My hometown (80 miles from Atlanta), that had maybe 3500 people when I left, gained population through Laotian, Thai and Hispanic immigration. It now has two Asian food markets and restaurants, three Mexican markets, three Mexican restaurants and a Buddhist Temple. I do not know how they vote but those immigrants far outnumber the black population. I would guess they vote at least 70% democrat but the county votes75% Republican.
Obviously the Democrats aren't going to like Trump, but they tend to feel the same way about every presidential candidate that wears an R by their name. My generally low regard for Donald Trump goes back years before he threw his hat in the ring for President in 2015, dating back to when I was too young to vote. I consider the Democrats irrelevant as to whatever decision I make when it comes to deciding whether to vote Republican, or vote independent. I also don't spend much of any time juxtaposing my policy views and preferences against the Democratic and GOP platforms. They are what they are.
Sometimes, the spoiler effect forces the parties to change, for better or for worse. Ralph Nader surely did his part in 2000, by spoiling it for Al Gore. Of course, I liked that spoilage, since I voted for Bush and didn't want Gore in the White House. On the flip side, the Libertarian party certainly spoiled some close races for the Republicans. Sometimes, I liked the spoiling effect, and sometimes I didn't. And of course, Democrats and Republicans don't like to have independent votes spoiling it for them. But if they were smart, they would go and try to win over these voters to expand their coalition. The Democrats responded to Nader by moving further to the left. And the GOP sometimes makes overtures to libertarian and populist leaning voters at various times to prevent right leaning voters from voting independent in one form or shape. And in recent years, the Democratic party has gone considerably far to the left in order to placate supporters of Bernie Sanders. It may keep the latter in the fold, but they are running afoul of many independent and moderate voters who really don't like the Democrat's hard leftward lurch over the past few years. Things like "Defund the Police", "F___ the police", as well as promoting straight out socialism turn off many Americans center-left, centrist, and center-right to right.
A third party vote to some people is a viable choice when they oppose the candidates of both major parties, and when they feel the candidate of the party they would normally support is so odious, that they express their protestations by going third party or doing a write-in. I don't buy into the concept of a wasted vote, since no political party or candidate has an entitled right to anyone's vote. A candidate has to go out and earn the votes of the undecided and those who aren't yet sold on the candidate. The two major parties represent center-right and center-left coalitions. Both Democrats and Republicans want to win, and they will adapt to try to win over enough voters to put them over the top. And third parties can provide a useful nudge one way or another.
As for immigration, what is interesting is that white voters shifted left(especially college educated white voters) in recent years. But nonwhite voters have been slowly trending rightward, especially Hispanic/Latino voters. It was the latter that kept Texas fairly red, and from going full bore purple. The heavily Hispanic/Latino voters in southern Texas along the Rio Grande corridor have long been reliably Democrat. But many of these voters tacked sharply rightward in 2020, even while formerly rock ribbed GOP bastions in the big city Texas suburbs tacked leftward. Another thing is that nonwhites tend to have higher birthrates than whites, which is a major contributing reason as the percentage share of non-Hispanic whites have decreased for the past few decades. Hispanics and Asians have tended to vote Democratic in the past couple of decades by a 2-1(in a decent GOP year) to a 3-1(in a not so good GOP year) margin. But the voter share breakdown of different racial/ethnic demographic groups are always in a state of flux. A reliably Democratic constituency now, may not be that way a few years from now(there seems to be a rightward trend among Hispanic/Latinos). And the same goes for GOP constituencies of the present. Muslim-Americans used to be a solidly GOP constituency until 9-11 and the subsequent Afghanistan & Iraq wars. Now they are a solidly Democratic constituency. But there have been some signs in various elections, that they are again trending rightward.
Nothing against Kemp or Perdue. You might not but I'll vote for either. Just yesterday I read numerous comments on a more right-wing site about how Perdue was not MAGA enough - did not fight hard enough for President Trump during the election squabbles. I suppose you and the other commenters are on the same track - suppress Republican voting if Perdue is the nominee. I can't imagine anyone except committed socialists voting for Stacey Abrams after twenty months of a Joe Biden presidency.
It's got nothing to do with the Constitution. The Constitution can be changed. And should be in my opinion. Instead it's a choice American voters make to award themselves very liberal gun rights, rights that many Americans aren't able to exercise safely. Change the Constitution.
There is a Second Amendment and it's real. Maybe you should devote your life to changing the Constitution to something you like better. You need only to convince the voters in 34 states to agree with you.
Trump cost the GOP the senate and now he's doubling down on reducing the GOP governorships. What a guy. Next time a life long registered dem pops up and declares for the president under the flagship of the GOP maybe it would be good to remember how this current Professor Harold Hill worked out.
Thomas Massie used to be one of my favorite Congressmen. That was before he started going overboard trying to pander to the MAGA crowd. Hopefully, he'll settle down next year or after the midterms.
It seems like many members of Congress that I liked in the past, have been compromised by MAGA to varying degrees. I think that deep down, most of these GOP members of Congress don’t believe in the performative pandering they dish out to the MAGA crowd. I’ve heard from Steve Hayes that based on his off the record conversations with many of them, that what they believe and say privately is vastly different from what they assert publicly.
See my comment, above. It works both ways. Republicans pander and democrat socialists pander. You and I would probably never be elected so we complain on opinion media from our points of view.
As for Massie, to be fair he’s not anywhere near as nutty and unhinged as some of the other MAGA panderers and cultists(i.e. Greene, Boebert, Cawthorn). He refused to buy into the Big Lie and try to steal the election, to his credit. With that being said, Massie pandering to the Covid-Truther crowd and anti-vaxxers, is very disappointing.
The thing is Nancy, that Massie is not stupid, and he is actually a very smart guy. I’m convinced that he doesn’t truly believe in these Covid and vaccine trutherisms and conspiracy theories. Some of his constituents in his Kentucky district do though, and Massie panders to them and indulges in the lies they’ve bought into. I also used to like Massie too. So all this has been disappointing for me.
It's politics. A 100% truth-speaker would never get elected to any office.
The Former Guy and Stacey Abrams have quite a bit in common. Both are election truthers and both are sore losers who refused to concede accept the outcome of their respective elections. In the case of the former President, it turned deadly on 1-6. In any case, there is nothing more I want than to see than Stacey Abrams lose in 2022. It is perhaps no surprise that Trump would rather have Abrams than Kemp, which shows that his personal grievances matter more than conservatism. That ought to be disqualifying even to voters who had a more positive view or Trump’s presidency.
Governor Kemp squeaked by in 2018, which was an election year very favorable to Democrats with Trump as sitting President. Also, congresswoman Karen Handel lost her House seat to progressive Democrat Lucy McBath after barely getting by Jon Ossoff in a special election in 2017. And all this was after then Congressman and later HHS Secretary Tom Price won in 2016 by 23 percent. Karen Handel lost a rematch in 2020, which was indicative Trump’s toxicity in the formerly GOP leaning Atlanta suburbs of Cobb and Gwinnett counties.
In contrast, 2022 is likely to be a much more favorable electoral climate for the GOP(so far), mainly due to the incompetence and solid left of center governance of Biden and the Democrats. Governor Kemp would have the advantage over Abrams even stronger than in 2018, had the Former Guy and his sycophants not been out to get revenge on those who refused to steal the election and acquiesced to the Big Lie. And Purdue represents Trump’s thirst for revenge against Kemp, Raffensperger, Sterling, and others who held firm against Trump’s attempt to steal Georgia in 2020. He isn’t so much running against Abrams as he is Kemp, and Georgia Democrats couldn’t be more pleased to have the Former Guy enter the race via Perdue. It’s like an early Christmas gift to the Democrats. If I were Abrams, I would be laughing my way to the bank.
I’m not from Georgia so I can’t vote in this gubernatorial election and primary. But if I were a resident in that state, I would vote for Kemp in the primary, and general election should he make it. I have such a low regard for both the Former Guy and Not-A-Governor, that I want them to fail hard in their objectives.
This is going to be an interesting race, and a good barometer to see to what extent the GOP has moved on or not moved on from Trump.
Although you can't vote, the flaw in what you want is that we who can vote must make a choice. If we want to be in the game, we may have to choose between your lowly regarded candidates if they make it through the primaries.
I do not know if Trump was trying to steal the Georgia vote but I know enough to never underestimate the capability for voter fraud in DeKalb and Fulton counties. Their election controls should be thoroughly investigated. I do not believe Trumpism and Republican policies turned off voters in Gwinnett and Cobb counties. Gwinnett changed because of the huge influx of immigrants and their first-generation offspring which has also been significant in DeKalb. Cobb County changed because of overflow from Fulton County.
It’s interesting how our discussions usually end up leading to Ron DeSantis. 😊
Among nonTrump voters on the right, there is a range of opinions on DeSantis. Some obviously like him , while others are not so amenable to him. Yet others are reserving judgment on the Florida governor. I do think that he will get a substantial amount of these voters, as they think DeSantis would be the ideal compromise candidate that can move the GOP forward past Trump by also winning voters who liked the policies of the Trump presidency. That would especially be the case if the Democrats were dumb enough to nominate Kamala Harris.
It’s a combination of both factors. The blueing of Cobb goes back many years, and certainly predates Trump. But there is no doubt that Trumpism accelerated that trend. After all, one doesn’t just go from a 23 point Tom Price win, to a very slim Karen Handel win, to a Karen Handel loss to a progressive Democrat in just the space of 3 years without factors that go beyond an influx of left leaning voters into Cobb. And the hemorrhaging was not just limited to the Atlanta suburbs, but suburbs nationwide. In some states and counties, the blue trend preexisted Trump but was hastened by the latter. In other states and counties, the GOP held firm until they reacted negatively to Trump. The decline in GOP performance in these areas was the most pronounced from the period of 2016 to 2020. There were quite a bit of right leaning suburbanites who refused to vote for Trump. They either voted for Biden, or a 3rd party candidate. But many of them likely also pulled the lever for GOP members of the House and Senate, which is the best explanation as to why many congressional Republicans outperformed Trump in the suburban counties across the US.
The policies in themselves were not the problem for the GOP so much as it was presidential behavior. The problem is with self-destructive presidential behavior that Trump engaged in, it dominated the oxygen in the room, making it nearly impossible for the GOP to capitalize on policy, which actually poll well.
And there is no doubt that Trump and his campaign tried to steal Georgia. Trying to pressure Brad Raffensperger to find votes to give him a win was a very damning indictment of the defeated President’s motives. Also getting GOP members of Congress to try to throw out slates of electors and attempt
to overturn an election reeks of electoral larceny. To be fair, the Democrats have had small numbers of its caucus in the House and Senate do this in 2000, 2004, 2016, which was despicable. Included among them is none other than House Democrat Jamie Raskin, who I find to be a hypocrite.
You bring some interesting points on voting. Most of the time, if my preferred candidate loses in the primary, I allow a lot of leeway in tolerating disagreements I may have with the GOP nominee and vote for the him or her. But I do have limits though, and when a candidate crosses the threshold of what I find tolerable, then I withhold my vote for him. My vote then is usually a write-in protest vote or a 3rd party vote. Trump is obviously an nonnegotiable deal breaker for
me, and there are no circumstances that I would ever vote for him. But I would vote for a candidate that I have some disagreements with on policy, as long as their behavior and character meets a reasonable standard. Which means accepting the outcome of elections they don’t like, and not trying to do things like throw out state electoral college slates(Those who did will never get my vote). One potential example is Ron DeSantis. I haven’t committed to him yet, as I’m sort of a wait and see on this guy. I agree him about 70-75 percent of the time, while among the 25-30 percent of the time I disagree, some of them are very strong disagreements. I would be open to voting for him in the general election depending on how he pans out. In some ways it was similar in 2008, when I had major disagreements with John McCain on policy matters.
People can play the game inside or outside the party. Ross Perot snagged about 19 percent of the vote in 1992, and both the Democrats and the GOP took notice of that. Ralph Nader almost certainly cost Al Gore the election in 2000, and the Democrats were upset about it. But they certainly made sure to move leftward to try to win over the Nader voters and keep them in their camp. And the Democrats of the present have moved significantly to the left to try to please those who “feel the Bern”. The downside to their strategy is that they are alienating many moderate to moderately left of center voters.
The demographics have changed. My opinion of the change in Cobb and Gwinnett voting is based on what I remember from somewhere around 1960. Back then, vehicle tags were assigned county numbers denoting their rank in population. I memorized a lot of those numbers. My home county was number forty-eight. Cobb was number eight (about 114,000 compared to about 768,000 today) and Gwinnett was number twenty (about 44,000 compared to about 954,000 today). Wherever all the additional citizens came from, it is very clear that it is not the same people voting now as it was even five years ago. The population of those counties has averaged increasing 10,000 to 15,000 per year in metro-Atlanta counties. In contrast, Muscogee County, home of Columbus GA and Fort Benning, was number four in population (about 159.000 compared to about 196,000 today).
I assume you will sit out the next presidential election if Trump is a nominee. I can't see anyone with your intelligence voting for any of the current democrat notables and voting for a third-party loser is the same as no vote.
Demographics have changed, but different demographics doesn’t necessary equate to more left leaning politics. In the case of Georgia it is probably the case. But in other states, the increased influx of nonwhite voters made Democrats assume that they would reap a permanent majority because of that. And as we know in states like Texas, Florida, and even in blue states like Virginia and New Jersey, nonwhite voters are drifting towards the GOP and away from the Democrats. The political realignment in suburban Atlanta had been going on for quite some time, but the pace was more gradual. It wasn’t until the GOP latched itself to Trump to when the bottom fell out, causing Brian Kemp to barely scrape by an extreme leftist in 2018, Karen Handel losing to Lucy McBath that same year, and Trump losing the state in 2020. Had the GOP not been hobbled with Trump’s self-destructive behavior, Chuck Schumer would be a minority leader, as Ossoff and Loeffler would’ve won. Karen Handel would still be in Congress, and Biden wouldn’t have carried Georgia, and wouldn’t be sitting in the White House today.
Voting 3rd party or doing a write-in isn’t the same as not voting, as it adds one vote to a tally not of the 2 parties. Sometimes though, the spoiler effect of third parties can force the 2 major parties to change, especially if there is a close race and the vote totals for a 3rd party exceed the winning margin.
As for the Democrats, they’ve gone way too far to the left, and I find myself disagreeing with their party platform on just about everything. That is why I can’t see myself voting for them so long as many of them embrace the policies that they do. This isn’t the party that would welcome a John Breaux, Sam Nunn, or Zell Miller within their ranks today.
I’m willing to compromise and vote for a candidate that are more populist than my views are. And I’m sure there are candidates who would please the populist leaning right that have decent behavior and character. I might not agree with them on every issue, but if they are willing to meet me halfway, I could meet them halfway.
However, Donald Trump is a complete dealbreaker for me, and especially given his post-election behavior leading up to 1-6. And the same goes for any Republican who voted to reject slates of electors on that day. As for voting 3rd party or voting write-ins, I’ve done it on regular occasion since 2006. I voted a mix of independent and GOP in various elections. A couple of
elections, I voted straight independent, while in other elections I vote straight GOP ticket. For the 2021 governors race in Virginia, I voted a straight Republican ticket. So it really depends on the candidate and the political climate, among other things.
A candidate like Ron DeSantis might be able to win a significant amount of right leaning voters who wouldn’t vote for Trump, but are open to voting for a conservative candidate that had a mix of populist and non populist conservative views.
So the part of the democrat platform you agree with is "Trump is Evil".
Sometimes voting third party is not the same as a no vote. It may lead to a runoff with a less desirable candidate being elected. Not voting can have the same effect by denying a more desirable candidate a majority. Of course, desirability is an individual matter. I personally like to have a say-so instead of wasting my vote and hoping for the best.
My comments on immigration being a huge factor is based on personal observation over a number of decades. I watched huge suburban areas turn into Hispanic and Asian enclaves where English was not the principal language judging from the business signs. My hometown (80 miles from Atlanta), that had maybe 3500 people when I left, gained population through Laotian, Thai and Hispanic immigration. It now has two Asian food markets and restaurants, three Mexican markets, three Mexican restaurants and a Buddhist Temple. I do not know how they vote but those immigrants far outnumber the black population. I would guess they vote at least 70% democrat but the county votes75% Republican.
Obviously the Democrats aren't going to like Trump, but they tend to feel the same way about every presidential candidate that wears an R by their name. My generally low regard for Donald Trump goes back years before he threw his hat in the ring for President in 2015, dating back to when I was too young to vote. I consider the Democrats irrelevant as to whatever decision I make when it comes to deciding whether to vote Republican, or vote independent. I also don't spend much of any time juxtaposing my policy views and preferences against the Democratic and GOP platforms. They are what they are.
Sometimes, the spoiler effect forces the parties to change, for better or for worse. Ralph Nader surely did his part in 2000, by spoiling it for Al Gore. Of course, I liked that spoilage, since I voted for Bush and didn't want Gore in the White House. On the flip side, the Libertarian party certainly spoiled some close races for the Republicans. Sometimes, I liked the spoiling effect, and sometimes I didn't. And of course, Democrats and Republicans don't like to have independent votes spoiling it for them. But if they were smart, they would go and try to win over these voters to expand their coalition. The Democrats responded to Nader by moving further to the left. And the GOP sometimes makes overtures to libertarian and populist leaning voters at various times to prevent right leaning voters from voting independent in one form or shape. And in recent years, the Democratic party has gone considerably far to the left in order to placate supporters of Bernie Sanders. It may keep the latter in the fold, but they are running afoul of many independent and moderate voters who really don't like the Democrat's hard leftward lurch over the past few years. Things like "Defund the Police", "F___ the police", as well as promoting straight out socialism turn off many Americans center-left, centrist, and center-right to right.
A third party vote to some people is a viable choice when they oppose the candidates of both major parties, and when they feel the candidate of the party they would normally support is so odious, that they express their protestations by going third party or doing a write-in. I don't buy into the concept of a wasted vote, since no political party or candidate has an entitled right to anyone's vote. A candidate has to go out and earn the votes of the undecided and those who aren't yet sold on the candidate. The two major parties represent center-right and center-left coalitions. Both Democrats and Republicans want to win, and they will adapt to try to win over enough voters to put them over the top. And third parties can provide a useful nudge one way or another.
As for immigration, what is interesting is that white voters shifted left(especially college educated white voters) in recent years. But nonwhite voters have been slowly trending rightward, especially Hispanic/Latino voters. It was the latter that kept Texas fairly red, and from going full bore purple. The heavily Hispanic/Latino voters in southern Texas along the Rio Grande corridor have long been reliably Democrat. But many of these voters tacked sharply rightward in 2020, even while formerly rock ribbed GOP bastions in the big city Texas suburbs tacked leftward. Another thing is that nonwhites tend to have higher birthrates than whites, which is a major contributing reason as the percentage share of non-Hispanic whites have decreased for the past few decades. Hispanics and Asians have tended to vote Democratic in the past couple of decades by a 2-1(in a decent GOP year) to a 3-1(in a not so good GOP year) margin. But the voter share breakdown of different racial/ethnic demographic groups are always in a state of flux. A reliably Democratic constituency now, may not be that way a few years from now(there seems to be a rightward trend among Hispanic/Latinos). And the same goes for GOP constituencies of the present. Muslim-Americans used to be a solidly GOP constituency until 9-11 and the subsequent Afghanistan & Iraq wars. Now they are a solidly Democratic constituency. But there have been some signs in various elections, that they are again trending rightward.
Nothing against Kemp or Perdue. You might not but I'll vote for either. Just yesterday I read numerous comments on a more right-wing site about how Perdue was not MAGA enough - did not fight hard enough for President Trump during the election squabbles. I suppose you and the other commenters are on the same track - suppress Republican voting if Perdue is the nominee. I can't imagine anyone except committed socialists voting for Stacey Abrams after twenty months of a Joe Biden presidency.
I think different segments of the GOP could be suppressed regardless of who is the nominee.
That photo made me laugh. Imagine the police response if you tweeted that photo in any country but the USA...
I guess it's a Bill of Rights thing. Damn pesky Constitution. As Obama said, it puts too many restraints on the federal government.
It's got nothing to do with the Constitution. The Constitution can be changed. And should be in my opinion. Instead it's a choice American voters make to award themselves very liberal gun rights, rights that many Americans aren't able to exercise safely. Change the Constitution.
There is a Second Amendment and it's real. Maybe you should devote your life to changing the Constitution to something you like better. You need only to convince the voters in 34 states to agree with you.
Actually, imagine the response if thy were black.
Trump cost the GOP the senate and now he's doubling down on reducing the GOP governorships. What a guy. Next time a life long registered dem pops up and declares for the president under the flagship of the GOP maybe it would be good to remember how this current Professor Harold Hill worked out.