Talk Elections

Not necessarily who you think is the worst person running, but who do you think has the combination of abhorrent views, electability, and shrewd ability to push their agenda through? Trump, for example, has horrible policies, but is polling terribly, and would have a sizeable majority in Congress against his proposals. Originally, I thought Scott Walker would best fit this mold, but now I'm leaning more towards either Cruz or Rubio - Cruz seems less electable, but has worse policies, and is very politically able.

So, all things considered, who are you most afraid of?

Pretty close between Cruz and Rubio, but I voted Rubio because he might actually be able to make a sale of his snake oil to the American people.

Trump, not because of his likelihood of getting elected (he's not), but just because he is  scary.

Trump. His general election prospects aside, the mere fact that an overtly racist, entirely unqualified demagogue stands a good chance of winning the nomination of one of the two largest political parties in the country is terrifying.

Cruz is easily the scariest of the bunch. Carson would be next but he seems to be fading as of late so he no longer seems viable. Cruz has an excellent chance of winning the Iowa caucus and will get a ton of publicity but I don't see him being able to go the distance. Still scary though. Iowa Republicans sure do love Conservatives though. Not afraid of any Republican this cycle.

Easily Rubio

I can't see how Cruz gets elected. He's just not likable beyond everything else. With Trump, I guess anything is possible. He has charisma. He's a performer. And he will dial back a lot his more outrageous stuff if and when he secures the nomination. So it conceivable that he could get elected. And thus ... well you get the drift.

I think TRUMP is a ham who plays it up for television. Cruz is for real. That's what makes Cruz so frightening. I think Cruz could potentially win - if he scares enough voters. Not to mention the guy is a grade A debater.

Dems arent gonna have a night like 2012, more like 2004. When, we had to wait on CO, NV & OH. Rubio, makes things more difficult, but not impossible.

Not a registered democrat, but Trump.  I don't think you have to be a democrat or a republican to be scared of Trump.  That dude is creepy enough for anyone.

Cruz is FAR creepier.

It scares me how many people believe Carson to both intelligent politically and qualified, even among those who view Trump as an insane racist. But Carson's chance of winning is very low, so I voted for Cruz.

So obviously all of the Republicans have abhorrent views, but let's pretend that I'm "fair" or whatever by not automatically labeling them all as such.

ABH = Abhorrent views
ELE = Electability
AGN = Shrewd ability to push their agenda through

Cand.	ABH	ELE	AGN
Trump	YES	NO	YES
Cruz	YES	?-?-?	NO
Rubio	YES	YES	YES
Carson	YES	NO	NO
Bush	NO	YES	YES
Christie	NO	YES	YES
Kasich	NO	YES	YES
Fiorina	YES	NO	YES
Paul	YES	NO	NO
Huckabee	YES	NO	NO
Graham	YES	YES	YES
Pataki	NO	YES	NO
Santorum	YES	NO	NO
Gilmore	NO	YES	NO

Surprised Graham is not up there with the rest for you Dems.

"Hawk" is an understatement. He has the Hitler of foreign policies in contrast with leftist ideals.

No one's afraid of him winning an election though. He's got as much chance at winning the R primary as he does the D one.

Rubio. He's one of the few Republicans that could win a general election, has a decent shot at winning the primary, and is much more dangerous than he seems.

They myth of Rubio's electability is alive and well, I see.

They're all varying levels of terrible, of course. I see 4 candidates who right now have a plausible shot at the nomination: Cruz, Trump, Rubio, and Christie. I can't see Cruz winning the general, and I don't see Trump actually managing to work with Congress in any meaningful way. (Though Trump somehow getting elected terrifies me on a more symbolic level far more than any other candidates do.) Christie and Rubio both have equally horrible foreign policy, but Rubio seems more likely to pass something damaging domestically than Christie, so my vote goes to him.

LOL Graham is electable? Not to conservatives. My parents would  vote constitution instead and so would I. Millions more would just stay home. Also, Carson is more electable according to polling than one might think..it is worth notation.

If a Republican candidate can't win the primary they can't win the general.

Well then I guess they're in the same group and of the same number as the people who won't vote for Hillary if Bernie isn't the nominee. A negligible sum that will only affect the closest of races. It's not "millions": you guys really need to get over the whole "if they're not real conservatives then 'millions' will stay home!" shtick. You're literally hardcore Bernie Sanders supporters, albeit with the ideological preferences flipped. You're confusing the actual electorate with your personal and biased viewpoints, as well as individual and subjective experiences (the same broad behavior is why Inhofe thinks throwing a snowball on the Senate floor disproves climate change). I can't wait to hear the whole "we need to nominate a real conservative" line if/after Trump loses the general, from the same people who said we needed a real conservative like Trump in the first place.

Republican electability is really simple - in fact, it's the simplest of all variables to calculate. Do they stand a chance at making inward roads with genuine moderate and independent voters? If so, then yes, they are electable. If it's a matter of sheer abnormally-high turnout, then the Republicans lose every time. Obviously Democrats are not going to vote for any Republican, so that's a non-factor.

Republican turnout in a given election cycle is a constant; likely Republican voters always show up and they always vote for their party. You can pretty much bank on a given number of votes in a national race from Republicans these days (60,000,000) - just look at the past three elections. There's been only two million votes' worth of variance (compared to ten million for Democrats). In part, that's because of the demographics and alienation of your party; there is now one voter dying off for every new voter you obtain. This isn't a structural problem the Democrats currently have. Despite conservative posturing, virtually none sit at home and boycott the election (or lodge protest votes, for that matter) because "real conservatives" didn't get the nod. That's something Democrats and leftists actually do in much greater numbers, but it's still around the margins.


Nope nope nope

lol

Cruz...he's the more calm version of Trump but still terrible. Rubio is a boy he will never win let alone be the nominee.

I really wanted to say Cruz, but Trump has unexpectedly beat him. What a strange election.

If I were a Democrat, I'd probably say Carson just over Trump. Donald is smart, reasonable and liberal while Carson is a dumb, far right wing savant who people seem to like out of some inexplicable pity that I can't understand (and it permeates ideology)

If I were a Democrat, I'd probably say Carson just over Trump. Donald is smart, reasonable and liberal while Carson is a dumb, far right wing savant who people seem to like out of some inexplicable pity that I can't understand (and it permeates ideology). The others are not electable enough

Cruz; he is far worse than Trump.

Rubio-he's a wolf in Obama's clothing.

He hides behind the whole 'son of a bartender' 'I was poor in college' life story to push through policies that would not do any good for the economy. He sounds like an empty suit when he speaks, because he never talks about policy.

In fact he's only a fraction to the left on Cruz, and most of that's on his delivery. Supports outlawing abortion, is much more of a neocon than Cruz, supports bulk data retention, opposes opening relations with Cuba and is generally awful.

Eh, probably Cruz. He sounds like he is going to crawl through my monitor, steal my soul and imprison me in his lair. His vibe is of an evil gnome in a kid's movie. Carly would be pretty scary, if she wasn't so laughably crap.

I just have to say Rubio because I really do believe that at this point in the race he is the only Republican who could win both the nomination (Cruz, Rubio and Trump) and the General election (Rubio, Christie and Kasich).

Trump doesn't believe half of what he says IMO, so I don't think a Trump presidency would necessarily reflect what he is saying now.

Rubio would be a bad President but he has shown his ability to find common ground and has at least strayed from the ideological rhetoric espoused by others.

Cruz has the perfect combination of hunger for power, electability, and far-right ideology to be dangerous.

So Cruz it is.

Izzy?  I'm not a huge fan but he really doesn't wig me out like Trump does. 

I guess if you think he's more creepy it's for exactly that reason.  He's probably as radical, but because he doesn't come across as narcissistic and self-aggrandizing, he might be taken seriously, and therefore his legislative agenda might actually have legs.  I guess it's a reasoned argument, but I'm not really buying it for the moment.  I'm not saying that he's my favorite candidate, but he's congenial enough to play ball, I think, and he actually has had experience as a government official so he knows he's not running for the office of Emperor.  He also doesn't have a record of making huge financial mistakes and expecting other people to pay for his mistakes.

Well, each to his own logic I always say. 

Rubio. I just don't believe that Cruz and Trump are electable.

Probably Cruz because I think he's extremely conservative and savvy enough to get elected and pass conservative legislation. Rubio is more electable but I also think he's more pragmatic.

I might be wrong, and Trump may get blown out, but right now I fear that there may be too many stupid people in this country that will buy into the b***s*** Trump is spewing, that it may make him more electable than Cruz. I also think that while Rubio may be bad and incompetent for the job, I don't think he's as dangerous as the other two.

Rubio, but not because he's polling well, or is "talented, inspirational, Republican Obama, blah blah etc.", but because the media is clearly in the tank for him, and that will help him tremendously in the general, particularly when combined with their intense Hillary hatred. By contrast, as much as the media hates Hillary, they'll be forced to take her side against people they hate even more like Cruz and Trump.

Cruz. Trump is in it for himself and really wants Hillary in there. I don't think Trump actually believes any of the crap he says. Cruz, however, does and he's better at articulating his points; of course, articulation isn't exactly applauded by the Republican primary voters. He's the one who scares me the most out of the ones who are polling above 5 percent lolz