"You vote for the party, not the man"

[Democratic Hawk]

Once upon a time the old political ethos "You vote for the party, not the man" used to be very strong, but it seems to be weakening in the UK

Who do you vote for, the party or the candidate?

Dave

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Candidate

[© Tweed the Younger]

Both

[So the Heroes Fall]

Party

[dazzleman]

both

[Jake]

A mix of both. I don't care if a Democrat is socially conservative, because if they give the Democrats control of Congress, socially conservative legislation won't get to the floor anyway.

[YRABNNRM]

I try and vote for the candidate but sometimes, unfortunatly, I have to do situational voiting which causes me to choose the party.

[bullmoose88]

Both

[WalterMitty]

candidate.

the older i get, the less loyalty i have to 'party'.    not to mention that most republicans are nuts.

[Akno21]

Both, but the higher the office, the more inclined I am to go with party.

[YRABNNRM]

candidate.

the older i get, the less loyalty i have to 'party'.    not to mention that most republicans are nuts.

Just wondering, how is the statewide GOP in MA? They can't be worse than the NYGOP.

[Josh/Devilman88]

both

[WalterMitty]

candidate.

the older i get, the less loyalty i have to 'party'.    not to mention that most republicans are nuts.

Just wondering, how is the statewide GOP in MA? They can't be worse than the NYGOP.

the state party isnt doing well here.  they only have a handful of seats in the state legislature.

a lot of big time statewide races in 06 (including us senate and attorney general) arent even being contested by the gop.

the candidate for governor is the current lt. governor kerry healey.  i strongly support her candidacy.  she is quite liberal for a republican.  she could possibly win (if only because the democratic candidate will be rather weak also)

[Gabu]

I consider both, usually.

[Defarge]

Depends on both. 

[Pictor Ignotus]

Well, over the long haul the "man," but since 2000 and the GOP takeover, I've been pretty partisan. If we get the Dems in the White House or the House, I'll probably become more independent leaning.

[Platypus]

In Australia, it used to be a mix of both, but now it focusses on candidate-but not the candidate for the seat, rather the PM candidate. Local members are becoming less and less important as the system is becoming more 'Presidentialised'.

My vote will certainly be based on candidate though; only because I dislike both the libs and the ALP as a whole.

[Hatman]

Candidate of course. Most of the time that happens to be from the same party though.

[Mr. Paleoconservative]

I vote for the "Common Sense Conservative" CANDIDATE.

[Sam Spade]

The man (or candidate, to use gender-neutral terminology).

[Sibboleth]

Once upon a time the old political ethos "You vote for the party, not the man" used to be very strong, but it seems to be weakening in the UK

I think it's become a lot weaker at local level (although that's partly down to greatly reduced turnout in local elections), which is ironic as the quality of the people getting involved in local politics has nosedived over the past three decades, but I think at Westminster level it's stronger than it was in the '80's.

[© Tweed the Younger]

both

Oh stop.  When's the last time you supported a Democrat for an office of any importance?

[Jake]

both

Oh stop.  When's the last time you supported a Democrat for an office of any importance?

Tweed, wouldn't his consideration of "the man" include examining his voting record, which normally would result in dazzleman deciding he is more in line with the Republican candidate than the Democrat. Not too many Blue Dogs run in CT.

[afleitch]

It varies. Usually the candidate, but sometimes the party if I want to get someone out of office.

[nini2287]

Candidate-both parties are equally as bad.