What's a voter to do?
Published July 29, 2016
By Tom Campbell
by Tom Campbell, Executive Producer and Moderator, NC SPIN, July 28, 2016.
Most everywhere you go people repeat a familiar refrain. They can’t vote for Trump and don’t like Hillary, or vice versa. These are the two most unpopular presidential candidates since they started these polls. What’s a voter to do?
Most of us who faithfully vote will testify that in past elections it was easier for them to choose one candidate over another but the latest polls results show 55 percent don’t like Hillary Clinton and 59 percent don’t like Trump. For these voters there are three options.
Should we consider voting for the Libertarian or Green Party candidate? This has some appeal because it would send a message to both political parties that we don’t like either the process or the candidate chosen to represent them. Many remember the 1992 campaign when Ross Perot was the third-party candidate running against an incumbent George Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton. Perot poured millions of dollars of his personal fortune into the campaign, only managing to get 19 percent of the popular vote. He supposedly took votes equally from the two party nominees, however many Republicans believe Perot was the nail in the coffin for Bush and helped propel Clinton to the White House.
Recent polls show Libertarian Gary Johnson has about 12 percent of those who say they will vote. Green Party candidate Jill Stein has significantly less. Neither will likely quality to appear in the presidential debates. Some political pundits are saying a vote for either would likely do the most damage to Donald Trump, propelling another Clinton to victory. Whether true or not there is one inescapable truth: Stein and Johnson have as much chance of winning the presidency as the City of Charlotte has of hosting the NBA All-Star game. They are wasted votes.
This thought process leads many to say they will just stay home and not vote or perhaps just vote in statewide races. Either option just feels bad. Failing to vote is little different from not being able to vote. Choosing a President may be hard this year, but staying home guarantees we are the losers.
Options one and two clearly are not desirable, leading many to the third response of holding our collective noses and selecting the presidential nominee we dislike least. This appears to be the choice many disgruntled voters will make.
This has been the strangest election cycle any of us has ever witnessed. Just when you think things might settle down another unsettling revelation or event throws the election into more chaos. With 17 weeks before the November 8th election we will no doubt learn much more before having to make a final decision.
We respectfully offer the following advice: Pay attention. Listen to what the candidates hope to accomplish, not what they say about their opponent. One of the nominees will rise to distinguish or even disqualify themselves. Don’t be swayed by friends, the media, business associates, the parties or rogue independent expenditure groups. Make up your own mind.
Democracy isn’t easy. History demonstrates we’ve made some good and some not so good choices, but we’ve fought for the right to choose our leaders. Regardless of the outcome we will once have this opportunity four years from now.
July 29, 2016 at 10:41 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Johnson/Weld 2016. Gov Johnson does not need 270 EC votes, just needs a couple States to keep a close Sec. Clinton and Mr. Trump race from getting either of them 270 EC votes. IF that happens and the Presidential election goes to the US House of Representatives there the newly elected members vote among the top three EC vote getters, one vote per State, decided by the majority of the States delegation perhaps unless the State Constitution might say otherwise, then Gov Johnson has a shot.
July 29, 2016 at 11:03 am
Jimmy Wynne says:
Great solid food for all of us to eat and digest. Yes, a tough decision but one we Have to make and Vote. The rest Hope and pray that our decision was the right one. We are blessed to be able to vote the way we choose and We have that Right !9
July 31, 2016 at 8:27 am
Bennie Lee says:
My first take away from this weeks "NC Spin" was another like that I will go back to "Sports Center".
It was a "US Spin" not NC Spin. Regarding the RNC and DNC, of course the Dem's
were more unified. They are always. Look at their reaction in Washington, every week. If one of them said the grass is red, they all would meet, on CNN and agree, the grass is really red. Tom you have to know that. You also know the Rep's will disagree.
On all kinds of issues. They do all the time. They are never unified. That is
what has been their biggest problem in the Dem's vs the Rep's.
The NBA All Star game- I argued to our state officials time and time, the $ given to the movie people didn't help the good people in Morganton, the people in Boone, the people in Sparta. It bib, by far, the realtors and restaurants, and the like in New Hanover and Brunswick counties. I have a house in OKI and our first home, since '75 is in Trinity. I see first hand who gets nothing, or very little from that issue. The Comment this morning was "Charlotte lost $100 M from the All Star pull out.
The people in Kinston, or Pittsboro didn't loose anything, really.
