Election where you would have had the hardest time deciding who to vote for
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  Election where you would have had the hardest time deciding who to vote for
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Author Topic: Election where you would have had the hardest time deciding who to vote for  (Read 1307 times)
Lechasseur
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« on: August 17, 2017, 07:47:56 PM »
« edited: August 17, 2017, 07:49:44 PM by Lechasseur »

Which presidential election do you think you would have had the hardest time deciding who you would have voted for? For me it would have been 1992: I like Bush, Clinton and Perot (probably the only election in US History where I could have seen myself hesitating between 3 candidates); I would have probably voted for either Clinton or Bush at the end, but not sure who. Almost every other election in US History had a candidate who I would have clearly preferred and voted for.
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Computer89
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« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2017, 07:57:11 PM »

1992 for the same reasons
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Don Vito Corleone
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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2017, 08:08:22 PM »

I think the hardest election for me to decide who to vote for would be 1976. I don't particularity like Jimmy Carter's overt religiosity, or Gerald Ford's pardoning of Nixon. I probably would have voted for Eugene McCarthy, who ran as an independent that year.
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Santander
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« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2017, 08:27:48 PM »

1968. I love both Wallace and Nixon.
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
Harry S Truman
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« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2017, 09:07:36 PM »

The elections of 1836 and 1840, in the sense that I'm honestly not sure which candidate was the lesser evil. Martin Van Buren was a party hack and pawn of the slave power, while William Henry Harrison was an faux-populist aristocrat whose tenure as Governor of the Indiana Territory was a horrifying combination of anti-democratic obstruction and genocidal bloodlust. As a Hoosier, I'm inclined to hate Harrison slightly more, but d*mn were they terrible.

Honorable mentions go to 1796 (ideologically, I'm closer to the Jeffersonians than to the Federalists; but I very much respect John Adams' personal integrity, and Jefferson's blindness to the excesses of the French Revolution were – to say the least – troubling) and 1880 (I would have voted for Garfield, but Hancock was the best Democratic nominee of the pre-Bryan era by leaps and bounds).
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Young Conservative
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« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2017, 09:22:37 PM »

In every election to me, there is a clear choice. I cannot imagine voting for any Democrat other than Kennedy, who wasn't a liberal.
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Computer89
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« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2017, 10:10:12 PM »

In every election to me, there is a clear choice. I cannot imagine voting for any Democrat other than Kennedy, who wasn't a liberal.

JFK called himself a liberal:


https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/90682-if-by-a-liberal-they-mean-someone-who-looks-ahead
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TJ in Oregon
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2017, 10:11:53 PM »

2016 takes the cake by a mile. I still argue with myself about whether I made the right choice.
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Illiniwek
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« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2017, 10:28:26 PM »

Mt. Rushmore of difficult decisions would probably be: '52, '56, '76, '92

Each of those are without hindsight though.
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RFayette
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« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2017, 10:29:51 PM »

Probably 1932, 1968, and 2016
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SATW
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« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2017, 10:39:01 PM »

1960, by far. 1996 I would've just been unenthusiastic but Kemp being on the ticket would've solidified my support.
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Don Vito Corleone
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« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2017, 11:09:23 PM »
« Edited: August 17, 2017, 11:15:03 PM by bruhgmger2 »

In every election to me, there is a clear choice. I cannot imagine voting for any Democrat other than Kennedy, who wasn't a liberal.

You mean the Kennedy who negotiated with America's enemies? Or the Kennedy who paid for an increase in social security benefits through an increase in payroll tax? Or the Kennedy who fought to create Medicare, which would later be created under LBJ? Or the Kennedy who said "I'm proud to say I'm a Liberal"? Or the Kennedy who raised the minimum wage?

For someone who wasn't a Liberal, he sure acted like one.
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AN63093
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« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2017, 11:33:28 PM »
« Edited: August 17, 2017, 11:39:20 PM by AN63093 »

In real life, 2000 was the hardest.  Both candidates were acceptable to me and I didn't have strong feelings for either one.

Historically, I suspect 1884 would have been a tough one.  As I'm generally a protectionist (and would've been even more so in the 19th century), I would typically vote GOP, but Blaine was one of the weaker candidates in this era on trade.  He was initially pro-tariff while in the Senate, then completely flipped when he was Secretary of State, then flipped yet again after he lost to Cleveland.  I wouldn't have a lot of confidence in his trade position.

On the other hand, Cleveland wasn't pro-tariff either, so this election would be a bit of a "lesser of two evils" type of thing.  At least Cleveland could be counted on to be pro-gold, which set him apart from a lot of Democrats.  I may have narrowly voted Cleveland in '84.

1888 and 1892 would also be tough choices for me, since Harrison waffled on the gold issue.  But Harrison was reliable on tariffs so I'd almost certainly vote for him in the end.  Incidentally, Harrison is probably one of the closer presidents in history to me ideologically (right after Arthur and McKinley).  Very few presidents post New Deal are close to me ideologically at all.
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Mr. Smith
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« Reply #13 on: August 18, 2017, 12:09:03 AM »

1952: Both Ike and Stevenson were good candidates with terrible running mates.


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America Needs R'hllor
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« Reply #14 on: August 18, 2017, 03:07:14 AM »

1948. I like both Truman and Dewey but I also have reservations about both. I'd also probably wabt change after so many years of Democratic control. In the end, I think Dewey would very narrowly prevail.
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Middle-aged Europe
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« Reply #15 on: August 18, 2017, 04:48:25 AM »

1908, 1916, 1920, 1928.

(Would have voted for the Progressive ticket in both 1912 and 1924)
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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2017, 08:39:36 AM »

In every election to me, there is a clear choice. I cannot imagine voting for any Democrat other than Kennedy, who wasn't a liberal.
You would vote for a supporter of the welfare state?
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Alabama_Indy10
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« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2017, 08:45:01 AM »

It's not a presidential race, but I had a difficult time deciding who to vote for in Alabama's recent senate election.
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mvd10
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« Reply #18 on: August 18, 2017, 09:13:47 AM »

I guess I would have been tempted to support Kennedy in 1960, Clinton in 1992 and 1996 and Gore in 2000 but in the end I think I still would have supported the Republican nominees. Supporting Clinton in 2016 wasn't a hard choice.

Perhaps Dutch elections would have been harder. I guess I might have considered CDA in 2002 (VVD elected a social liberal/centrist leader) and in 2003 (to prevent a social democrat from becoming PM) but I probably still would have voted VVD in both cases because the VVD always remains to the right of the CDA on issues I care most about. And PvdA-CDA cabinet with a PvdA PM probably wouldn't be much to the left of a CDA-PvdA cabinet on policy, but serving under a PvdA PM might hurt the CDA (and help the VVD Cheesy).

I guess in Germany I would be a CDU/CSU/FDP swing voter (but I'd generally support the FDP, especially now with Merkel as CDU/CSU leader).
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nicholas.slaydon
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« Reply #19 on: August 18, 2017, 01:27:43 PM »

1968 and 1912
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PeteHam
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« Reply #20 on: August 18, 2017, 02:05:34 PM »

The Democratic primaries of 1984 and 1988.
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SNJ1985
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« Reply #21 on: August 18, 2017, 02:22:16 PM »

2016 if I lived in a competitive state.
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Clarence Boddicker
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« Reply #22 on: August 18, 2017, 03:17:01 PM »

1912 and 1952.
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ExtremeRepublican
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« Reply #23 on: August 18, 2017, 03:21:36 PM »

All the elections between 1876 and 1896, pretty much
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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #24 on: August 18, 2017, 10:34:02 PM »

I suppose... 1860, without hindsight, or 1912, with hindsight.
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