An Individual’s Vote

To be honest right from the top, I have often wondered how individuals choose who to vote for. If one agrees with candidate A on all of the issues, then no problemo. Candidate A will get that individual’s vote. Likewise if one disagrees with candidate B on just about everything, then again no problemoas candidate B is not going to get that individual’s vote. These examples are exaggerated and pretty straight forward, and little actual decision making will be involved.

However, let’s make the situation a bit more difficult. For instance, let’s assume that one agrees with candidate A on only seventy percent of the issues, but agrees with candidate B on a measly thirty percent. Will candidate A still get that individual’s vote? Yes, as long as all of the issues have the same weight for an individual, then the candidate with the higher percent will be the one he likely votes for. But if not all of the issues are of equal importance to an individual, then the situation becomes more complex. If one particular issue is of tantamount importance to an individual, will that individual even pay much attention to the rest of the issues? In today’s world, in fact, the answer is that one issue voting is commonplace. 

For the left this issue is abortion. If candidate A is pro-abortion, then in all likelihood he/she will get that leftist’s vote. Does it matter what else candidate A promotes? Usually not. Is this purely a leftist thing? …No, it is not. When I asked one of my conservative friends what he thought about RFK Jr., his response was basically, “no way,” as RFK Jr. does not hold my views on global warming and going green

I bring this up today because on 10/9/23, RFK Jr. declared himself to no longer be a Democrat, but to now be an Independent. While it is extremely unlikely that an Independent could be elected President, RFK Jr. is certainly in a position to be a spoiler, stealing votes from both the Republican and the Democratic candidate. At present none of the other present Republican Presidential candidates have been smart enough to declare solidarity to Donald Trump, and thus be in a good position to be considered as Trump’s V.P. 

How would a Trump/RFK Jr. ticket sound? I wonder, “Could my conservative friend back this combo?”

11/29/23