Which candidate would you have voted for ? - French version

[big bad fab]

That's what I would have voted IF I WERE THE SAME AS TODAY.

1965: de Gaulle/de Gaulle
1969: Pompidou/Pompidou
1974: Chaban-Delmas/Giscard d'Estaing
1981: Giscard d'Estaing/Giscard d'Estaing
1988: Barre/Chirac
1995: Balladur/Chirac
2002: Boutin/Chirac
2007: Sarkozy/Sarkozy

The 1st round of 1981 is really difficult for right voters: a narcissic VGE, a too rightist Chirac, a decaying Debré, an obsessive Garaud... I think I would have voted "utile".
I would have long hesitated between VGE, Garaud and Debré, I think.

Lecanuet and Marcilhacy would have been tempting in the 1st round in 1965 (not so many pro-Europeans in French presidential elections...), but de Gaulle is de Gaulle.

If I was born in 1969 and not in 1970, I would have voted Ducatel or Rocard and then Poher, considering my familial environment.

If I were able to vote AT THE TIME, I would have voted (considering familial environment up to 1981 and my own opinions afterwards):
1974: Mitterrand/Mitterrand
1981: Crépeau/Mitterrand
1988: Waechter (or Mitterrand)/Mitterrand

And I voted:
1995: Chirac/Chirac (I was so angry about Balladur's narcissism and Pasqua's manoeuvres...)
2002: Chirac/Chirac (The 1st round wasn't easy and voting Boutin would have been dangerous...see Jospin vs Taubira, Chevènement et alii)
2007: Sarkozy/Sarkozy

OMG, 6 ballots and 4 for Chirac...
Elections aren't the implementation of an ideal !

[big bad fab]

So you are a rightist in a leftist family ?

Yep, but my parents became rightists after I myself dropped the left (Mendès and Rocard were my heroes).

With the definitive breaking of French education system under Jospin (after huge cracks under Edgar Faure, VGE and Savary), with the Yugoslav wars and revisionist and awful behaviours of Mitterrand (and Major), I began to vote for the right.
So, I was twenty.

I voted socialist only once, in a cantonale in 1988...
And Green in 1989 for the European elections.
After, I became a rightist, one year after I entered Sciences-Po.

[big bad fab]

1965: Lecanuet/Mitterrand

1969: Pompidou/Pompidou

1974: Chaban-Delmas (or Muller ?)/Mitterrand

1981: Crépeau/Mitterrand

1988: Barre/Mitterrand

1995:Jospin/Jospin

2002: Taubira (even if I was a great fan of Jospin)/Chirac

2007: Voynet/Write-in "Jesus Christ help us".

Some commentaries:

I'm a kind of soft libertarian, and since there is no party in France for me and my fellow hippies, I vote for a man (well, a not-too-far-of-the-center man) more than for the candidate of a party.

First, I hate de Gaulle more than anything. I'm politically the opposite of him on economic, social and inernational issues. And I don't like his accent. Pompidou was not a so bad President, and oddly I like his "rooted in the soil" side.

I really don't like Mitterrand as a President (note I never chose him on the first round), but his personality was fascinating. And since I hate even more VGE and I consider Chirac as a sympathic but ineffective, my rewards go to intelligence.

René Dumont in 1974 ?

Marcel Barbu in 1965 ("Votez Barbu, Barbu n'est pas un traître") ?

[big bad fab]

So you are a rightist in a leftist family ?

Yep, but my parents became rightists after I myself dropped the left (Mendès and Rocard were my heroes).

With the definitive breaking of French education system under Jospin (after huge cracks under Edgar Faure, VGE and Savary), with the Yugoslav wars and revisionist and awful behaviours of Mitterrand (and Major), I began to vote for the right.
So, I was twenty.

I voted socialist only once, in a cantonale in 1988...
And Green in 1989 for the European elections.
After, I became a rightist, one year after I entered Sciences-Po.

Interesting political travel. I probably agree with you on the school system, but the guilt for his failure is in my opinion equitably shared by left and right. Do you think Darcos reforms are going in the right sense ? About Yugoslavia, I don't understand what you mean by "revisionnist views", could you explain me ?
And, last but not the least : If you were a leftist, you probably kept some leftist views in some domains. So I find a bit strange to see you as a republican, considering that there is a lot of "UMP democrats" here. Someone who chooses the GOP in the USA can't be just a moderate rightist in France.

Mitterrand viewed Yugoslavia with a WW1 and WW2 mind (some on this forum do the same, BTW...): Serbia is an ally and Croatia is a fascist state...
And he thought Germany was responsible for the mess as they recognized Slovenia and Croatia... But they were entitled to leave and democratic referendums were strongly in favour.
Milosevic was the BIG responsible, no one else more or on a par with him.

I chose to be a Republican on this forum because values are very important for me (famille, honneur, patrie, respect d'autrui et du monde, respect de la liberté des autres: all these words aren't fascist for me, they mean something), because I'm opposed to gay marriage, because I'm opposed to genetic manipulations of all sorts.
I'm also a small government one.

But not in GOP proportions of course (oh, in fact, Bush was a big government guy...)

But I'm not in favour of death penalty, neither in favour of guns.
And Bush's foreign policy was a huge mistake and mess. And public finances were awful due to this and to him.

So, in the States, I would be a moderate GOPer (even if I can go up to Romney) or a Blue Dog Democrat.

I'm like Boutin on values (even on smooth values on "humanism" and aid towards the poor), like Juppé on economic policy, like Sarkozy on public service, like Fillon on schools, like Delors-DSK-Nouveau Centre-Barnier on Europe, like Mendès-France on political ethics, like... nobody on foreign policy.

[big bad fab]

Thanks for these precisions. Quite interesting views, even if I can't bear Boutin... I think as you about Yugoslavia, anyways.

Boutin is a bad minister and a bad politician. It's just to give you an easy way to understand: Boutin is a value-fighter but a social and humane one (don't see her only through the PACS debate), whereas Villiers is a mad, narcissic and out-of-date guy.

My average position may be around or between Barnier, Juppé and Fillon (also on personalities BTW, as I am not a Sarko-fan and I hate mads like Villepin).