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Protest voters

520 Views | 25 Replies

Protest voters 2016-09-26 11:18:41


Do protest voters realize that by voting third party they're making it that much easier for Trump to win?
A lot of people in my family keep saying they're gonna 'vote for the third party' as if it's one big collective third party, in order to deny Trump or Hillary a vote.
I try to explain to them that if they don't want Trump to win then they have to actually vote for Hillary.
I mean I'm all for Trump winning because I think it'll be interesting, but for any protest voters out there, what do you actually hope to accomplish?
Do you just not want to be someone responsible for electing either candidate?
Do you actually agree with the policies of third party candidates?

I'm not against voting third party at all, I'm independent 100%, but in this specific election is seems like any vote that isn't for Hillary is for Trump.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 11:58:03


At 9/26/16 11:26 AM, memedreamexcalibur64 wrote: if only there was an appropriate board where people could discuss these types of questions in earnest

man who uses any board besides general

seriously does anyone?

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:22:07


At 9/26/16 12:10 PM, zornuzkull wrote:
At 9/26/16 11:58 AM, BrandonIsNear wrote:
At 9/26/16 11:26 AM, memedreamexcalibur64 wrote: if only there was an appropriate board where people could discuss these types of questions in earnest
man who uses any board besides general

seriously does anyone?
Once In a while I pop in... It hasn't been strangled to death like the VG forum yet...

I posted in the art forum once and it's pretty nice if you want serious conversation.
But once you get used to the responses from everyone here it's hard to go back to serious replies.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:25:56


people in general dgaf about this sort of thing


"some people who believe they're smart do nothing but talk incessantly. if they didn't, how else would they let you know how smart they are?"

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:35:06


Isn't the point of democracy that people can vote for whomever they feel for their own reasons? I can see OP's point but you can't tell people who to vote for based on your opinion, if they want to "protest vote" you need to let them get on with it, it's their choice and if they want to be able to stand up and say they didn't vote for Trump/Clinton and that they voted in a way that they felt was right for them then that's the spirit of democracy right there whether you agree or not is irrelevant.


Heavy Vibes

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:36:47


At 9/26/16 11:18 AM, BrandonIsNear wrote: I try to explain to them that if they don't want Trump to win then they have to actually vote for Hillary.
I mean I'm all for Trump winning because I think it'll be interesting

Wasn't your family pretty dissappointed when they knew you'll vote for Trump? I mean my parents would be pretty angry if I'd vote for an other party and my whole family would hate me

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:44:07


At 9/26/16 12:35 PM, Pink-Ninja wrote: that's the spirit of democracy right there whether you agree or not is irrelevant.

Yeah I guess you're right.
People are gonna vote how they want and that's their right. The most popular person will become president regardless of whether or not people protest vote.

@Moblin My family thinks Trump is stupid and racist, and I try to argue with them about a few of the points they make, but they don't really wanna hear it.
I stand by the fact that I think Trump is smart in how he ran, gaining supporters as much as possible by saying obviously exaggerated things and getting away with it.
His political opinions are something I generally agree with to an extent, and I try to just let my family know that I'd rather vote for him than Hillary, and I don't agree with either of the two popular third party candidates.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:48:37


At 9/26/16 12:44 PM, BrandonIsNear wrote:
At 9/26/16 12:35 PM, Pink-Ninja wrote: that's the spirit of democracy right there whether you agree or not is irrelevant.
Yeah I guess you're right.
People are gonna vote how they want and that's their right. The most popular person will become president regardless of whether or not people protest vote.

That's exactly right, in the UK we recently had a vote to leave the EU or remain, I voted remain and as you should know the Leave campaign won, it was close but more people voted to leave than they did remain. I can't be too mad about it because it's peoples freedom that allows them to vote, some now regret voting the way they did but that's something they need to deal with now in a post EU Britian. It will be the same if Trump wins, some will see what his end game is and wish they never voted for him but it's the risk you take to live in a free country. :)


Heavy Vibes

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:52:47


At 9/26/16 11:58 AM, BrandonIsNear wrote: man who uses any board besides general

seriously does anyone?

There are those that go exclusively to General, and there are those that go anywhere but General.


Teacher, goth, communist, cynic, alcoholic, master swordsman, king of shitpoasts.

It's better to die together than to live alone.

Sig by Decky

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:54:15


At 9/26/16 12:44 PM, BrandonIsNear wrote:
@Moblin My family thinks Trump is stupid and racist, and I try to argue with them about a few of the points they make, but they don't really wanna hear it.
I stand by the fact that I think Trump is smart in how he ran, gaining supporters as much as possible by saying obviously exaggerated things and getting away with it.

My parents would react the same way, opinions don't work when it comes to these kind of things.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 12:56:50


The problem with third parties is that they try to crash the national stage without building a local network at the state level.

As for protest voters, they should vote out everyone in Congress and pick who they feel is best for the presidency. No sense worrying about it too much, Jill Stien and Gary Johnson both didn't get enough appeal to get into the debates. No Ross Perot effect or Nader effect as much.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 13:03:55


At 9/26/16 12:56 PM, someaveragechap wrote: The problem with third parties is that they try to crash the national stage without building a local network at the state level.

As for protest voters, they should vote out everyone in Congress and pick who they feel is best for the presidency. No sense worrying about it too much, Jill Stien and Gary Johnson both didn't get enough appeal to get into the debates. No Ross Perot effect or Nader effect as much.

I'm still worried about Jill because of a lot of my Bernie supporter friends are switching to her. She seems to be somehow sucking some of them into her weird unrealistic campaign.
I'm one of the former Bernie supporters that went to Trump at first out of protest for Hillary, but after doing some research he's basically a less PC, more extreme, Republican version of Bernie, which I kind of appreciate in a weird way.

Of course that's not to say you're wrong, they probably won't effect the election much if things keep going the way they're going now.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 13:13:31


You are right, any vote not for Hilary helps Trump. His supporters are pretty steadfast and don't seem to be sucked into third parties as easily, I mean even Ted Cruz said he is gonna vote for Trump and Trump has been quite insulting to him in the past.


Those who do not learn from the mistakes of their past are doomed to repeat them.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 13:19:55


At 9/26/16 01:13 PM, generalwinter wrote: I mean even Ted Cruz said he is gonna vote for Trump and Trump has been quite insulting to him in the past.

I think most of the Republican candidates actually had to sign a paper saying they would support whoever becomes the nominee prior to running.
I think Bernie actually had to do the same thing, which is why he's supporting Clinton right now.

Of course it can't be legally binding or anything but I guess they're sticking to their word.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 13:22:01


Vote for secession.


"خيبر خيبر يايهود جيش محمد سوف يعود"

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 14:25:37


Gary Johnson might just be the most sound candidate in terms of public policies and affability, but the problem is that he's the representative of a divided Libertarian party, mostly between the hard left and the Republicans in sheep's clothing who only disagree with them on a few token issues. (read: pot) As for Stein, she is a total clown in a party that might as well be ran by Barnum and Bailey, just reading their stances makes me want to either laugh, cringe, or sometimes both.

Ultimately, people lament that third parties don't get enough attention in politics, but it's hard not to see why they don't get much attention in the first place. A lot of people may be sympathetic to their message to some extent, but they don't want to vote for, or be lumped in with the crazies who hijack the party for their ends, or be a part of a party that doesn't know what it truly wants to be. Say what you will about the Republicans and Democrats, at least you know what they stand for most of the time, and even they fall into the pit of the fringe and pseudo fringe voting blocks.


Just stop worrying, and love the bomb.

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 17:43:00


If you'd open your eyes, you'd notice that Hillary is just as shit as Trump. Voting for someone who isn't shit isn't a "protest vote", it's called actually wanting your country to improve.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 18:31:15


In principle, yes the point of democracy is to vote for whoever you want. In practicality, you're not going to make meaningful expansion from the two party system by voting people in just as alternatives. You do it by throwing votes behind people who to some degree represent what you like. Then policy makers will see these principles getting supported and throw consideration behind them.

I don't know your family or how well thought out their political stances are but since you say they're doing it to "deny" other people their vote it doesn't sound great.

Protest voters are in general people who want to feel like independent voices. More often than not this comes with an unhealthy amount of self importance.


I have nothing against people who can use pot and lead a productive life. It's these sanctimonius hippies that make me wish I was a riot cop in the 60's

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 18:47:29


This reminds me of the 2004 election when people said: "A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush."

Neither Bush nor Kerry were popular two-party candidates at the time.


A truly prophetic sig...

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 18:56:59


At this rate with these elections there's starting to be more hope for a 3rd party, I don't see how either Party A or Party B is democracy especially if you're voting for a turd or a turd sandwich, I mean it's 1 party off from a dictatorship

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-26 20:39:05


i wish i had an oposing oppinion then id be able to say more

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-27 00:05:57


At 9/26/16 11:18 AM, BrandonIsNear wrote: Do protest voters realize that by voting third party they're making it that much easier for Trump to win?

Some do, most don't. It's important to note that there are a lot of disenfranchised Republicans, broadly defined as a group that thinks Trump would be a disaster for the party. Conservative leaders like Romney, the Bush family, and until recently Cruz are morally and/or politically compelled to not support him, which naturally leads to a rift in the party and making Gary Johnson or Clinton seem more attractive by default.

Do you actually agree with the policies of third party candidates?

Gary Johnson seems a like a good guy with his heart in the right place, but he is too singularly focused on the marijuana issue and sees it as an answer to many of our country's problems, even though a lot of times they are at best tangentially related or a small fraction of a solution (ex. "What are your plans for our criminal justice system?"). He's also grossly inexperienced in foreign policy, but at least he knows what Aleppo is now.

Dr. Stein is preoccupied with appealing to fringe groups in the desperate hopes of building some semblance of a movement. Courting anti-vaccers and people who claim that radio waves are cancerous. She's also got the genius strategy of winning votes by promising to forgive student loans.

Evan McMullin is a nobody, but he might be able to sway the Utah vote due to his faith. Probably not, though.

I'm not against voting third party at all, I'm independent 100%, but in this specific election is seems like any vote that isn't for Hillary is for Trump.

This is a consistent theme with voting third party though, often against the Democratic candidate's favor. We can have a discussion about the pros and cons between FPTP voting and alternatives like runoff voting, but voting for president a candidate of a non-major party that has little to no influence in the legislature while in a FPTP election system is throwing your vote away, plain and simple. You vote for a person whose views you share the closest AND is viable as a candidate. Otherwise you'll get a mess. A big. Fat. Mess.


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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-27 06:35:04


At 9/26/16 12:25 PM, billybobthwarten wrote: people in general dgaf about this sort of thing

Boards that aren't general are about as good as dead, and even then, this board is also dead in comparison to other forums/imageboards/etc.

Tim Flup is just keeping this shit on life support

Protest voters


5:24 PM - Hat-Fondler: adverb

5:24 PM - 平沢唯: jewishly

5:25 PM - Kupo: frothingly

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Response to Protest voters 2016-09-27 08:41:23


At 9/27/16 06:35 AM, JRob wrote:
At 9/26/16 12:25 PM, billybobthwarten wrote: people in general dgaf about this sort of thing
Boards that aren't general are about as good as dead

possibly because people post wherever

that, and the political area here is full of angry mob thinkers.


"some people who believe they're smart do nothing but talk incessantly. if they didn't, how else would they let you know how smart they are?"

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-27 16:30:08


At 9/27/16 06:35 AM, JRob wrote:
At 9/26/16 12:25 PM, billybobthwarten wrote: people in general dgaf about this sort of thing
Boards that aren't general are about as good as dead, and even then, this board is also dead in comparison to other forums/imageboards/etc.

Tim Flup is just keeping this shit on life support

I think the site is great and it just needs some positive reinforcement from the users and people associated with it.

Response to Protest voters 2016-09-27 17:38:53


id rather vote for the third party because it is game over if either Hillary or trump wins


this is the users orange and officer. lovers till the end

If you see I have bad grammar, ignor it because I dont give a fuck

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