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have you voted [R] in the past
- Thread starter galv
- Start date
Yes, when I was 18 during the midterms. I hadn't been exposed to much politics outside of my home life, and my political ideology was basically "my dad is an adult, he knows what he's talking about" and "fair and balanced" Fox News always being on TV at home.
When I went to college, I learned about concepts like the Constitution as a living document and had a pretty vocally-progressive political history professor, to the point that she had a history of more conservative students asking to drop the class.
That all happened around the same time as the GAF threads following the Ferguson protests and reporter live-streams, then seeing how Fox would twist and lie about events I had watched unfold the night before.
As well as me joining a spectrum peer group on campus that made me mindful of inclusivity and allowed me to talk with trans and gay students.
So by the time the 2012 election rolled around, I was firmly liberal, although I was only registered as independent then.
When I went to college, I learned about concepts like the Constitution as a living document and had a pretty vocally-progressive political history professor, to the point that she had a history of more conservative students asking to drop the class.
That all happened around the same time as the GAF threads following the Ferguson protests and reporter live-streams, then seeing how Fox would twist and lie about events I had watched unfold the night before.
As well as me joining a spectrum peer group on campus that made me mindful of inclusivity and allowed me to talk with trans and gay students.
So by the time the 2012 election rolled around, I was firmly liberal, although I was only registered as independent then.
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Unfortunately yes. I was pretty brainwashed by talk radio and living with my parents that had at least one TV on fox news 24 hours a day.
Last time I voted R was 2004 though.
Last time I voted R was 2004 though.
In local elections, yeah. Last cycle, I voted for an old professor running for commissioner as a republican. (he's not) The opposing democrat had something about loving christ on his FB page, so I noped right out of that stupidity.
I would have if I had voted in the first election that I was old enough to, but I did not. I was just out of high school and my entire upbringing was in a retired military household, and my hometown environment was pretty hard-lock conservative. I started college as an environmental biology major, didn't deny the science, got the idea of environmental imperilment stuck in my head. I later switched and finished as an English major (a much less wise choice) but I had an LGBTQ academic advisor and professor that grew up in a similar background and personally helped me overcome some of my struggles in sort of seeing perspectives on social justice issues and whatnot, and I personally never believed in anything politically enough to argue about it prior to college, I just don't ever recall being offered any alternatives -- it was "just the way it was" for all I knew, and to be honest to my recollection, I can't remember there being such a heated notion of separation between conservative and liberal until the 2008 US presidential election. That is to say, I don't remember being taught that my biggest adversaries were home-grown liberals, and I could comfortably watch things like Daily Show with Jon Stewart and very easily sympathize with the topics and perspectives. I don't remember being really all that adverse to any type of media at all until my English major education got applied to the way I saw things, and the 2008 election made Fox News just look horrible.
Now I hold left-leaning beliefs and have voted in every election since 2008, but if I had never left my hometown and gotten educated the way I did as an adult, I don't think I would've really broken free of the conservative/Republican perspective, and I see that in a few friends that never went to college. I was pretty certain I was going to end up ROTC and join the military and have that whole path laid out ahead of me prior to going off to college, but oddly enough my dad forbid that myself or my brother repeat military careers -- we were to be educated and successful by other means according to his wishes, which we both complied with ultimately. But I did swing by my college's ROTC recruitment office a couple of times early on.
Anyway, there was a time I could have voted Republican but I never did, because I was just out of high school and didn't really know my place as an adult member of society just yet, and it just seemed like a burden to my 18-year-old self. Things have changed a lot since then, for me personally and for the country.
I know for sure that I'll never vote Republican for the remainder of my lifetime. There's been enough since just 2007/2008 during my own kinda political awakening for me to firmly know that their political leanings don't align with the way I idealize society.
EDIT: bolded my run-on garbage to identify that I have failed to retain notions of well-composed English, too. Dammit.
Now I hold left-leaning beliefs and have voted in every election since 2008, but if I had never left my hometown and gotten educated the way I did as an adult, I don't think I would've really broken free of the conservative/Republican perspective, and I see that in a few friends that never went to college. I was pretty certain I was going to end up ROTC and join the military and have that whole path laid out ahead of me prior to going off to college, but oddly enough my dad forbid that myself or my brother repeat military careers -- we were to be educated and successful by other means according to his wishes, which we both complied with ultimately. But I did swing by my college's ROTC recruitment office a couple of times early on.
Anyway, there was a time I could have voted Republican but I never did, because I was just out of high school and didn't really know my place as an adult member of society just yet, and it just seemed like a burden to my 18-year-old self. Things have changed a lot since then, for me personally and for the country.
I know for sure that I'll never vote Republican for the remainder of my lifetime. There's been enough since just 2007/2008 during my own kinda political awakening for me to firmly know that their political leanings don't align with the way I idealize society.
EDIT: bolded my run-on garbage to identify that I have failed to retain notions of well-composed English, too. Dammit.
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Nope. I'm a woman, not religious, and grew up poor.
i'm sorry
excuse you, nothing is better than the D
i'm sorry
I was one of the only kids in my class to vote Dukakis. He got ANNIHILATED.
I had to cut out a dumb donkey too for my vote, while everyone else got a cool elephant.
#stillsalty
Yes, Bush in '04. I was neck-deep in the right-wing mediasphere. I had the AM dial turned to Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin etc. I read National Review and other conservative columnists online and watched Fox News at night. I can't pinpoint when my politics changed but I believe it was around when Obama was elected and a lot of the time I spent reading other opinions on GAF. I am now decidedly left-wing/progressive on most issues
No, you should make a poll though OP
Haagen-Dazs banana peanut butter chip ice cream
Fuck no. Only way I would ever vote Republican is if the two major parties switched sides like in the 60's with the "southern strategy".
Yeah, joining GAF had a huge impact on me. Just in general, the exposure to passionate perspective and arguments about various issues, but specifically the two super-threads following the Ferguson protests. Watching the live streams and hearing the anger and pleas from the residents and protesters, reading the empassioned posts in the threads, and then seeing the next day as Fox covered the "riots" and hearing Mark Levin talk about thugs and "opportunists". Trying to explain to my dad that it wasn't riots, and how Fox wasn't making any sense, only for him to shut down any criticism and counter-arguments, did a lot to open my eyes
The only person I've ever voted R for is Larry Hogan.
His platform has just been really good for Maryland.
His platform has just been really good for Maryland.
I absolutely have and I would again... For the local district where I grew up. The Democratic candidates were constantly embroiled in financial scandals and were constantly caught saying racist shit. The Republican on the ticket didn't support the types of policies most people here are probably picturing and were generally well respected people in the community.
I don't regret that.
I don't regret that.
I voted for George W. Bush in 2004 and I'm pretty sure I voted straight ticket that election. Midterms are kinda foggy, I can't really recall whom I voted for in those ones. In 2008 I voted for Obama and voted almost straight ticket DFL, with the sole exception being I voted for Coleman over Franken for US Senate. Since then I haven't voted for a single Republican.
For a higher office (POTUS, governor, US Congress): I grew up in a tiny conservative as fuck town/community. We didn't have cable or the internet at my house. I essentially had no sources of information outside of my parents and church. I was brainwashed af and voted R in my first election.
But then I went to college/grad school, and that never happened again. It also happened fast, much to my parents' chagrin. Our first huge argument was about invading Iraq. And we still argue to this day...
Fuck I hate Fox News and conservative media.
But then I went to college/grad school, and that never happened again. It also happened fast, much to my parents' chagrin. Our first huge argument was about invading Iraq. And we still argue to this day...
Fuck I hate Fox News and conservative media.
Yes.
I voted for Bush's second term.
Huge regret. It was the first time I could vote and I had some dumb reasons that made sense at the time. I thought Kerry would pull out of the war and that though I didn't agree with it, it would be better to stick with the person that had the plan started. I thought we were stuck there and didn't think someone so against it would do a good job even fighting it.
........ yeah.....
Now I realize Bush was one of the worst presidents in our history and basically a fucking war criminal. But I grew up conservative and the fact the vote was so close for me personally and I almost went with Kerry at the time was kind of a big thing.
I voted for Bush's second term.
Huge regret. It was the first time I could vote and I had some dumb reasons that made sense at the time. I thought Kerry would pull out of the war and that though I didn't agree with it, it would be better to stick with the person that had the plan started. I thought we were stuck there and didn't think someone so against it would do a good job even fighting it.
........ yeah.....
Now I realize Bush was one of the worst presidents in our history and basically a fucking war criminal. But I grew up conservative and the fact the vote was so close for me personally and I almost went with Kerry at the time was kind of a big thing.
My family's Puerto RIcan as well, and Democrat vs Republican seems to correlate pretty closely with who has a law enforcement background versus other jobs (ie my dad was a state trooper, my mom a guidance counselor) and who moved to the suburbs versus still living in the Bronx. Earn your way by your bootstraps/America is the greatest was a pretty big undercurrent among my family
It's so weird how my parents will joke about white people and always warn about being wary of racism toward my brother and me since we're Hispanic, but then my dad will make racist/transphobic comments with zero self-awareness.
Not counting local races (where party ideologies are less rigid), I did vote for Mitch McConnell in 2008. I knew I had fucked up almost immediately when he said his top priority was making Obama a one term president right after the election.
McConnell only won 53-47 that year, which I think was his narrowest margin of victory ever.
McConnell only won 53-47 that year, which I think was his narrowest margin of victory ever.
For a good while there were a series of Republicans in the Northeast whose MO was fiscal conservatism, social liberalism. People like Romney came from this class of politicians and compared to the GOP of today they were basically Democrats.
My first election was the 2006 midterm. I took it seriously and did my research. IIRC, in that election -- and maaaybe in 2008 -- I voted for a handful of state and local Republicans when they were running unopposed and didn't seem actively malicious, or in one case when the Democrat was a completely unqualified joke. Granted this was in Alabama so the pickings were mighty slim on the Dem side anyways. If I'd been a swing-stater I doubt any Republican would have gotten my vote, even in my starry-eyed Obama kumbaya youth.
I also voted for Rick Santorum in the 2012 GOP primary because the Dem contest was moot and I thought him losing to Obama would be better than a relative moderate like Romney, who would just encourage the radicals to radicalize further (in hindsight: yup).
Post-Trump? Never again. Even the most milquetoast moderate Republican is an enabler.
I also voted for Rick Santorum in the 2012 GOP primary because the Dem contest was moot and I thought him losing to Obama would be better than a relative moderate like Romney, who would just encourage the radicals to radicalize further (in hindsight: yup).
Post-Trump? Never again. Even the most milquetoast moderate Republican is an enabler.
