This is my thinking as well, and it's a real disappointment. I voted for McMullin, and I feel good about that. I'd have rather united around Johnson, but his very apparent lack of knowledge led me away from that. But one day I hope we as a country can break free of the idea that we must vote for one of these two parties. If you are only thinking about the single election, it will always feel like you are throwing your vote away. I voted third party because these people need to know that we deserve better candidates than what we were given, and that tea competition is always better.

 

My wife and I both voted for McMullin. It was not just a random thing, we both knew we could not in good conscience vote for Clinton or Trump. Johnson seemed clueless about any/everything. McMullin was actually a fiscal conservative, socially moderate, knowledgeable candidate. What we were looking for in a candidate.

I don't think you can say any 3rd party candidate drove a Trump victory/ Hillary defeat. The 2nd choice for Jill Stein voters if they had to choose would have been Hillary, The 2nd choice for McMullin supporters would have been Trump and Gary Johnson had voters from both sides of the political spectrum. If you voted 3rd party you should feel proud because you voted for a candidate who aligned with your views instead of being herded into 1 of 2 categories like the rest of the population.

I think the 3rd party voters hurt Trump more than Hillary. I think most of them were independents or tea party voters who didn't like the GOP nomination and wanted to vote independent. Many republicans I know said they were going to vote for Johnson because they couldn't vote for Trump. I think if it wasn't for the 3rd party candidate then Trump would have also won the popular vote.

I think the 3rd party voters hurt Trump more than Hillary. I think most of them were independents or tea party voters who didn't like the GOP nomination and wanted to vote independent. Many republicans I know said they were going to vote for Johnson because they couldn't vote for Trump. I think if it wasn't for the 3rd party candidate then Trump would have also won the popular vote.

 

That isn't what the numbers say. Hillary lost more voters to Johnson in Trump did. That isn't why Hillary got beat but it is true.

Harambe got 15,000 votes! RIP

I would have left my ballot blank before I would have cast a vote for either of the two. I don't believe I'm alone in that. I think it is a fools errand by either party to pursue this narrative that if someone hadn't voted for a third party candidate they'd have won. How about, if your candidate were worth voting for, then you'd have gotten those votes? We are not a nation that requires just two options, no matter how much they'd like it to be so.

 

I saw a clip of where Rachel Maddow said that people who voted for a third party (she characterized it as someone with no chance to win) were simply saying they didn't care who the president was. I've not seen a lot of her, but I know she is far more intelligent than that, and was simply lashing out (which she did more than once) in her frustration about the way things went. She's still pushing that view on Twitter. It's very disappointing that someone could believe that's all people were doing. How can it be so hard to just accept that a great many Americans didn't want either of these people, and how could someone claim it is wrong of someone to cast their vote for an alternative? How could someone claim it is wrong to want a viable alternative party?

I think people staying home that usually vote Democrat probably hurt her more.

 

I think that along with democrats who voted for Trump along with her inability to get blacks out to vote for her like they did for Obama hurt her.

 

I think Gary Johnson hurt her some as well.

I would have left my ballot blank before I would have cast a vote for either of the two. I don't believe I'm alone in that. I think it is a fools errand by either party to pursue this narrative that if someone hadn't voted for a third party candidate they'd have won. How about, if your candidate were worth voting for, then you'd have gotten those votes? We are not a nation that requires just two options, no matter how much they'd like it to be so.

 

I saw a clip of where Rachel Maddow said that people who voted for a third party (she characterized it as someone with no chance to win) were simply saying they didn't care who the president was. I've not seen a lot of her, but I know she is far more intelligent than that, and was simply lashing out (which she did more than once) in her frustration about the way things went. She's still pushing that view on Twitter. It's very disappointing that someone could believe that's all people were doing. How can it be so hard to just accept that a great many Americans didn't want either of these people, and how could someone claim it is wrong of someone to cast their vote for an alternative? How could someone claim it is wrong to want a viable alternative party?

 

I left mine blank for POTUS.

While walking the dog this morning, Mrs. Lawnboy chatted with the 4 other moms on our street, all of whom have at least two daughters, they all voted for Trump. The reason......they don't trust Hillary Clinton as far as they can throw her. They also commented that Trump says what most Americans want to hear (minus the sexual comments:lol2:), plus he's not a career politician.

Me and my wife talked on the way home tonight. Why do we need parties. General election in the spring and top two go head to head in November. No Electorial, most votes win. To Simple?

Me and my wife talked on the way home tonight. Why do we need parties. General election in the spring and top two go head to head in November. No Electorial, most votes win. To Simple?

We don't need political parties, but to eliminate them would be unconstitutional, IMO. Amending the Constitution to restrict freedom of association would be a very bad idea, and an amendment would be necessary to eliminate political parties. American citizens support political parties by rewarding them with votes. I don't see any need to eliminate parties, but we need to hold them more accountable for poor results.

Just saw a show. Trump had less votes than Romney from the last election.

Did folks not bother voting? Why were the numbers for the dems down versus last election?

Trump got a little less than Romney 2012, less than Bush did in 2004, a little more than McCain and Kerry did in their election bids.

 

It is the lowest voter turnout since 2000. I think the bad candidates and the nasty campaigns hurt the numbers, but that is just my opinion.

Hillary cost Hillary the election. She was more flawed than Trump and people just don't like her or trust her.