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Negative voting

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NobelCynic
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14 Oct 2008, 7:24 pm

It is a forgone conclusion that 90+% of the people voting in the upcoming American general election are going to be voting either Republican or Democratic. There are several minor parties on the ballot, but few people vote for them thinking it is a waste of their vote. I find this rather strange because I believe that most of the people voting for Mc Cain are actually going to be voting against Obama, and most of the people voting for Obama are actually going to be voting against Mc Cain; so why is it a waste of a vote to vote against both of them?

For those who do just want to vote against one of them: wouldn't be interesting to give citizens the option to cast a negative vote, rather than adding one vote to a candidate's total it subtracts one? If that were to happen, I would think that voter turnout would rise dramatically and most candidates would finish with negative totals. It will never happen but wouldn't it be a much better indicator of the mind and will of the people?


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ToadOfSteel
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14 Oct 2008, 8:27 pm

That would just serve to polarize the nation even further than the current voting system...

What I think we should do is screw over the republic and go to an Athenian-style democracy. Most states have a bunch of yes/no questions that serve as a referendum on their ballots. We'd still have a congress to actually write up and propose laws, but instead of just voting for a bunch of candidates for whatever positions and the 2 or 3 referendum questions on the ballot, the people would vote yes/no on a bunch of laws that were proposed. Most americans don't follow one party line or the other on every issue, but tend to mix between the two. I think alot more voters would show up if they could vote their personal beliefs on every issue at hand, rather than one of two-sizes-fit-all slates that each party represents. Furthermore, thanks to the near-instantaneous communication we have today, we could tackle the logistical problems an Athenian-style democracy experienced in ancient Rome (which they solved by creating the concept of the Republic in the first place)...



LostInEmulation
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15 Oct 2008, 7:00 am

I doubt that that's feasible... IRV though.... *dreams*


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monty
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15 Oct 2008, 10:22 am

NobelCynic wrote:
I find this rather strange because I believe that most of the people voting for Mc Cain are actually going to be voting against Obama, and most of the people voting for Obama are actually going to be voting against Mc Cain;


I disagree with half of that statement. One of the 'criticisms' of Obama voters is that they actually believe he will be a good leader - hence the mocking 'messiah' ads that McCain put out. Obama's message of optimism is similar to Reagan's 1980 'Morning in America' campaign. I have worked a phone bank to talking to people, and I can say that many Dems and some independents believe that Obama will provide leadership to get the country back on track.

On the other hand, very few people are really charged up for McCain. Palin? Yes, some of McCain's support is from people who will be voting for Palin.

The negative campaigning (he's a muslim/terrorist/criminal/anti-patriot/foreign citizen, etc) is an attempt to get people to vote for McCain by voting against Obama, but that is not so effective, IMO.



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15 Oct 2008, 9:46 pm

monty wrote:
NobelCynic wrote:
I find this rather strange because I believe that most of the people voting for Mc Cain are actually going to be voting against Obama, and most of the people voting for Obama are actually going to be voting against Mc Cain;


I disagree with half of that statement. One of the 'criticisms' of Obama voters is that they actually believe he will be a good leader - hence the mocking 'messiah' ads that McCain put out. Obama's message of optimism is similar to Reagan's 1980 'Morning in America' campaign. I have worked a phone bank to talking to people, and I can say that many Dems and some independents believe that Obama will provide leadership to get the country back on track.

On the one hand, I agree that people are more likely voting for Obama positively than for McCain.

On the other hand, Obama still has a creepy personality cult.

Decisions, decisions...

(no really, the messiah thing is an asinine critique of his potential as an executive in and of itself, but it says a butt load about his support base. Excellent material for misanthropic humor... not so good for a political campaign)


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16 Oct 2008, 6:13 pm

NobelCynic wrote:
It is a forgone conclusion that 90+% of the people voting in the upcoming American general election are going to be voting either Republican or Democratic. There are several minor parties on the ballot, but few people vote for them thinking it is a waste of their vote. I find this rather strange because I believe that most of the people voting for Mc Cain are actually going to be voting against Obama, and most of the people voting for Obama are actually going to be voting against Mc Cain; so why is it a waste of a vote to vote against both of them?

For those who do just want to vote against one of them: wouldn't be interesting to give citizens the option to cast a negative vote, rather than adding one vote to a candidate's total it subtracts one? If that were to happen, I would think that voter turnout would rise dramatically and most candidates would finish with negative totals. It will never happen but wouldn't it be a much better indicator of the mind and will of the people?


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