Straight party voting

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I am curious--this came up on my Governor poll.

[Nym90]

I would say option 2. Most voters are more than willing to vote a split ticket, but for those who are truly undecided on a race, they are probably  more likely to vote a straight ticket.

[© tweed]

Small amount (<2%), at least in midterms.  Larger in presidential elections.

[MasterJedi]

Otpion 3, a Moderate Amount.

[jimrtex]

I am curious--this came up on my Governor poll.

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Are you referring to states that have formal straight ticket voting, mark one box and you have voted for every candidate of the party?   Or just cases where a voter votes for the same party in every race?

And what sort of effect are you thinking of?

[minionofmidas]

What percentage did that racist nutjob disavowed by the Republican Party get in that one Tennessee district, just for an R by his name? 15%? And that was in a largely rural and smalltown district, in suburbia it would have been far higher (his strongholds were in the suburbs.)

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I am curious--this came up on my Governor poll.

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Are you referring to states that have formal straight ticket voting, mark one box and you have voted for every candidate of the party?   Or just cases where a voter votes for the same party in every race?

And what sort of effect are you thinking of?

I am talking about states that have formal straight ticket voting.  The effect I'm referring to is for example--Michigan--normally a Democrat state--so the effect on DeVos because of straight ticket voting would be -3% we'll say (or +3% for Granholm).

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

A good example of how straight party voting effects a race was the one between Spence Abraham and Debbie Stabinow in Michigan in 2000.  Abraham was ahead in the polls but since Al Gore won the state with a decent margin, Debbie Stabinow won the election.  I am the one who started this controversy with a comment in an earlier post.  I feel that due to the dislike of Republican George W. Bush and a strong desire to vote Democratic this fall by a few more people than usual, Mr DeVos will be swept to sea by people who just say "vote the bums out" and mark straight Democrat - along with their vote for Senator Satabinow.   This should give the governor a small, but significant advantage.

Let us never forget that most people don't understand the issues and candidates like those of us here do, and vote based on a much more simplistic approach.  If the trend is still swinging Democrat this fall.......

You bring up a very good point here--I was really thinking about a state anti-Republican trend, but really it all boils down to the President.  Good observation.

[Republican Michigander]

I voted for the straight ticket ban even though it benefits my county. I hate straight tickets and consider that a lazy option.

I think straight ticket voting has some major effects in some areas and minor effects in others.

About 54-55% of the vote in my county (Livingston) was straight ticket Republican. Almost 63% went to Bush. Mike Rogers got over 70% here. In my case, I never click the straight ticket lever and go through every single race. If it ends up going straight ticket (All except two minor races (one was unopposed who I didn't care for) were in 04), that's fine, but I want to make sure I at least look at every single race.

What's bad about straight ticket is that it helps some real bums - in either party. Look at Wayne County and the mess its in.

In 2004, Bush was a major help in some areas and a drag on other areas. Two state reps in Jackson probably won because of Bush's coattails. Bush overperformed there with 55% That stopped two strong democrats running against Republicans who won divided primaries. Bush had the opposite effect in Washtenaw County, where Ann Arbor's surrounding areas took a strong left turn - joining A2. Two contested state rep seats flipped, and an incumbent lost thanks to Pittsfield township's bigger than normal dem margins. .

Overall though - especially here, there are a lot of ticket splitters. Grand Rapids went dem in a big way, but Jerry Kooiman held on and won. Gary McDowell with NRA help took out a former state senator in a 57% Bush district (less GOP local level) Bush was unable to help a bum candidate over in Sanilac County/Port Huron. 55% for the dem state rep and 55% for Bush.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Little in the Governor's race, but it has a greater effect the further down the ballot one goes.

[Hatman 🍁]

The answer to this I'd say is: turnout in presidential elections minus the turnout for midterms.

[Cubby]

Not a very big impact. 2002 is a great example, you had a national tide towards the GOP in the Senate and House races, but the Democrats had the momentum in the Gubernatorial ones, with Dems winning WY (Bush's best state in '00) and other GOP strongholds like KS and OK, even with 43's approval rating at 65% at the time. That shows that at the state level, voters will vote for different parties than the ones they send to Washington.

[jimrtex]

I am curious--this came up on my Governor poll.

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Are you referring to states that have formal straight ticket voting, mark one box and you have voted for every candidate of the party?   Or just cases where a voter votes for the same party in every race?

And what sort of effect are you thinking of?

I am talking about states that have formal straight ticket voting.  The effect I'm referring to is for example--Michigan--normally a Democrat state--so the effect on DeVos because of straight ticket voting would be -3% we'll say (or +3% for Granholm).

I would think there would be very little effect at the top of the ticket.  If someone is going to vote straight ticket and the option weren't available, they'd still vote for the candidates at the top of the ticket.  They may not bother to go down the ballot if they couldn't vote straight ticket.