In the US, a vast majority of people vote by party. They may not even know the candidates by name, and simply vote “straight ticket.”
But I was in line to vote a few years ago and overheard someone say something like “yeah I saw more signs for This Guy than for That Guy, so I guess I’ll vote This Guy.”
I have also heard it’s not uncommon for Americans to vote for candidates they think are more attractive, or have a name they like more.
In California where we are faced with numerous complex ballot measures in addition to candidates, it’s very hard to get to the polls feeling completely informed about everything.
There comes an uncomfortable moment where you need to decide if you’re going to just not vote for certain things because you don’t know enough, or if you’d rather make the best hasty decision you can. In that latter case, I believe people are vulnerable to all kinds of bulllshit influences.
One influence I often go by is what people I know voted. I have a couple of friends that make it their business to be super informed, and I know we share values. I’m happy to give them my vote in that case rather than waste it.
Sometimes the ballot measures really are impossible decisions. One side says they’re raising money for schools that’s desperately needed for essential safety upgrades. Opponents say there is no details plan for how the money will be spent and the same group already did this just two years ago so where did that money go? How is a private individual supposed to penetrate things like this?
“Money for schools” and “allow new housing construction” are usually automatic approvals from me. I know there will be NIMBY naysayers and budget hawks complaining, but I think we need everything we can get on those two fronts.
yeah, basically the only way to vote informed is to spend several hours researching the candidates and their values, ballot measures’ implications, etc.
before the internet that shit must have been goddamn near impossible.
it’s a lot to ask of a population who is largely overworked, underpaid, and alienated from their communities to the point where having a few uninterrupted hours is a fucking luxury few of us have even occasionally. and usually we want to spend those hours with friends and family… so doing something boring like voter research is a hard sell
ironically, informed voting is one of the ways we could start to chip away at free time scarcity
I wish it were simply a matter of time and finding a few hours. I can do that. But the confounding factor is that while the internet makes information easily available, the downside is that the internet makes information easily available. The typical experience of trying to research any ballot measure is that you’ll find 40 different sources of information about it, all openly biased and directly contradicting each other.
Ultimately, many ballot measures are complex initiative proposals which need to be reviewed and approved by qualified professionals over weeks or even months, with multiple revisions being part of the process.
I don’t know how to evaluate building project plans and I really never will. Even assuming I have 3 hours for ballot research, there can be dozens of measures every time.
There are enough voters who don’t vote straight-ticket that it occasionally happens that different elections with the same electorate at the same time have different parties winning. For example in 2024, voters in Nevada elected a Democrat to the Senate, but gave the state’s electoral votes to Trump.
In the US, a vast majority of people vote by party. They may not even know the candidates by name, and simply vote “straight ticket.”
But I was in line to vote a few years ago and overheard someone say something like “yeah I saw more signs for This Guy than for That Guy, so I guess I’ll vote This Guy.”
I have also heard it’s not uncommon for Americans to vote for candidates they think are more attractive, or have a name they like more.
Basically, we’re pathologically stupid
In California where we are faced with numerous complex ballot measures in addition to candidates, it’s very hard to get to the polls feeling completely informed about everything.
There comes an uncomfortable moment where you need to decide if you’re going to just not vote for certain things because you don’t know enough, or if you’d rather make the best hasty decision you can. In that latter case, I believe people are vulnerable to all kinds of bulllshit influences.
One influence I often go by is what people I know voted. I have a couple of friends that make it their business to be super informed, and I know we share values. I’m happy to give them my vote in that case rather than waste it.
Sometimes the ballot measures really are impossible decisions. One side says they’re raising money for schools that’s desperately needed for essential safety upgrades. Opponents say there is no details plan for how the money will be spent and the same group already did this just two years ago so where did that money go? How is a private individual supposed to penetrate things like this?
“Money for schools” and “allow new housing construction” are usually automatic approvals from me. I know there will be NIMBY naysayers and budget hawks complaining, but I think we need everything we can get on those two fronts.
yeah, basically the only way to vote informed is to spend several hours researching the candidates and their values, ballot measures’ implications, etc.
before the internet that shit must have been goddamn near impossible.
it’s a lot to ask of a population who is largely overworked, underpaid, and alienated from their communities to the point where having a few uninterrupted hours is a fucking luxury few of us have even occasionally. and usually we want to spend those hours with friends and family… so doing something boring like voter research is a hard sell
ironically, informed voting is one of the ways we could start to chip away at free time scarcity
I wish it were simply a matter of time and finding a few hours. I can do that. But the confounding factor is that while the internet makes information easily available, the downside is that the internet makes information easily available. The typical experience of trying to research any ballot measure is that you’ll find 40 different sources of information about it, all openly biased and directly contradicting each other.
Ultimately, many ballot measures are complex initiative proposals which need to be reviewed and approved by qualified professionals over weeks or even months, with multiple revisions being part of the process.
I don’t know how to evaluate building project plans and I really never will. Even assuming I have 3 hours for ballot research, there can be dozens of measures every time.
One of he reasons Trump won in the first place was probably that he was a celebrity
There are enough voters who don’t vote straight-ticket that it occasionally happens that different elections with the same electorate at the same time have different parties winning. For example in 2024, voters in Nevada elected a Democrat to the Senate, but gave the state’s electoral votes to Trump.