[POLL] United States Presidential Elections 2016

[Dotini]

I think he has every intention of winning he's just going about it differently than other candidates. He's approaching it like a social media popularity campaign. He has no desire to appeal to liberals or democrats at all, he's just trying to whip up support in the conservative base and hoping to swing the independents his way with brashness and popularity. You don't need to compete on issues to win an election, you just have to be the guy with the most votes.

This is the strangest election campaign I have ever seen. It DOES appear Trump is ahead in the polls and the recipient of vast popular support. Even though the Republican establishment and liberal/mainstream media is strongly against him, he may be carried to victory on the shoulders of the voters. Personally, I find him rather less than tactful, and unsuited to be President. Cruz seems very close to Trump on many of the issues, and FAR more tactful. I'd rather see him than the slippery Rubio on the ticket.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

all the while having his explanation at the ready to escape the fishhook

Really? This is "escaping"? He has become cannon fodder for every comedian, has long since lost all credibility and has turned the Republican movement into a laughing stock.

 

[Dennisch]

Really? This is "escaping"? He has become cannon fodder for every comedian, has long since lost all credibility and has turned the Republican movement into a laughing stock.

It all doesn’t matter because he is still leading the polls, and by quite a margin.

So, the run for the White House will be between someone who offends as much people as he can, and a woman slowly slipping into old age and the illnesses that come with that.

How great is that?!?!

 

[prisonermonkeys]

How great is that?!?!

So the campaign slogan should be "AMERICA: YOU'RE SCREWED EITHER WAY", then?

 

[Dennisch]

So the campaign slogan should be "AMERICA: YOU'RE SCREWED EITHER WAY", then?

EXACTLY! It's just a damn shame that we are talking about the position of the most powerful person in the world. But for the neutral viewer. It just keeps on getting better. Especially when the true mudslinging starts when, presumably Trump and Hillary, are going head to head.

Hilarious. I really can't wait.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Really? This is "escaping"? He has become cannon fodder for every comedian, has long since lost all credibility and has turned the Republican movement into a laughing stock.

Which popular politician is not cannon fodder for comedians? It goes with the territory.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Sanders is more fit to be president than either of those two clowns.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Which popular politician is not cannon fodder for comedians?

Which other popular politician is just cannon fodder like Trump?

 

[Dotini]

(Trump) and has turned the Republican movement into a laughing stock.

What you would destroy, you first ridicule. Trump is in the act of turning the Republican party upside down. The Republican establishment has become hopelessly divided, polarized, confused, impotent, directionless and thoroughly corrupt. It needs to die, and Mr Trump is actually, right now, swinging an ax through its wretched neck. It has finally taken a populist rebellion, but its now real and present. Conservatives, Libertarians, social liberals, peaceniks, working and middle-class men and women across the nation have found their saving Hero. They hope.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Funnily enough, I have read the same description of GTA V's Trevor - that he breaks the world because he knows that it is wounded and will only try to limp on when it needs redefinition.

 

[TenEightyOne]

What you would destroy, you first ridicule. Trump is in the act of turning the Republican party upside down. The Republican establishment has become hopelessly divided, polarized, confused, impotent, directionless and thoroughly corrupt. It needs to die, and Mr Trump is actually, right now, swinging an ax through its wretched neck. It has finally taken a populist rebellion, but its now real and present. Conservatives, Libertarians, social liberals, peaceniks, working and middle-class men and women across the nation have found their saving Hero. They hope.

I think you're right... but couldn't one argue that the voters are speaking and that, perhaps, this is exactly what they want? Mr Balls-Out Motor-Mouth America With Precisely-Zero-*****-Given? There may be plenty against having a Trump in the Oval Office (and goodness knows there should be, imo) but there are seemingly plenty who will go and make a mark on the paper to try.

Is it too much of a stretch to believe that this is a cunning, premeditated, almost surrealist attack on the state of Republicanism or is it more likely that Trump seeks to fill higher places, hungry for power and more than slightly mad?

 

[Dotini]

I think you're right... but couldn't one argue that the voters are speaking and that, perhaps, this is exactly what they want? Mr Balls-Out Motor-Mouth America With Precisely-Zero-*****-Given? There may be plenty against having a Trump in the Oval Office (and goodness knows there should be, imo) but there are seemingly plenty who will go and make a mark on the paper to try.

Is it too much of a stretch to believe that this is a cunning, premeditated, almost surrealist attack on the state of Republicanism or is it more likely that Trump seeks to fill higher places, hungry for power and more than slightly mad?

Yes, one could argue many things. And we do pick alternating sides to an argument, try them on for size and chew them over. You, above all, are a supreme practitioner of this artful device.

But it is supremely difficult to know what people's motivations are - far more difficult than to know their actions and their consequences.

So I'm with @Dennisch. The only thing I know for sure is that this is extraordinary, it's fun, and I'm investing in popcorn futures.

 

[Sanji Himura]

but couldn't one argue that the voters are speaking and that, perhaps, this is exactly what they want? Mr Balls-Out Motor-Mouth America With Precisely-Zero-*****-Given?

No. Even though Trump enjoys an 8 point lead in the GOP primary polls, that is still 27.5% of the total votes. That means that 72.5% of people (in the RCP average) would prefer someone else as the GOP Nominee, but they can't agree on who that man should be.

That means that the GOP's Open primary system is a real disadvantage to Trump if someone like Cruz can echo with the independents who can vote. Sure, Trump has the populist message, but it has to be someone like Cruz who delivers the conservative message here.

 

[DK]

Ted Cruz must love the taste of his own foot:

“It’s also been reported that [Robert Dear, the terrorist who attacked the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs] was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that’s what he is, I don’t think it’s fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left. This is a murderer.”

Texas Tribune

 

[Rallywagon]

If I lived in the 1940s I'd probably vote Republican. But I don't, I live in 2015, where most of the repubs are corporate hyena's (or are the corporate tit), salivating for those super pact perks. Clinton is no better. I feel only two candidates will stop the train towards Oligarchy. Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders. Given the number of Republicans currently in other seats, and the fact that I think Sanders will do better for the middle class, I am going with him.

 

[TenEightyOne]

100 leaders from "the blacks" endorse a big Trump. Or do they?

 

[Johnnypenso]

If I lived in the 1940s I'd probably vote Republican. But I don't, I live in 2015, where most of the repubs are corporate hyena's (or are the corporate tit), salivating for those super pact perks. Clinton is no better. I feel only two candidates will stop the train towards Oligarchy. Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders. Given the number of Republicans currently in other seats, and the fact that I think Sanders will do better for the middle class, I am going with him.

What is it that Bernie Sanders is going to do to help the middle class?

 

[Swagger897]

What is it that Bernie Sanders is going to do to help the middle class?

What is any other candidate other than him or Paul going to do differently?

 

[Johnnypenso]

What is any other candidate other than him or Paul going to do differently?

No idea. Do you have an answer to my question?

 

[Rallywagon]

What is it that Bernie Sanders is going to do to help the middle class?

Just the fact that his is not corporate sponsored is a great start. Knowing that he doesn't support and is looking to break up citizens united and super pacts is another. Changing the current "trickle down" economic and tax structure is another place he will make change that will help the middle class. He is making a stand against corporate control of the government. There is also changes he would like to make to education/college and to health care. If you are honestly asking what, I suggest doing the leg work on google, cause its a bit more comprehensive than I have time to get into ATM. I get as a Canadian you are probably as interested in our politics as we are in yours (personally, I do pay a bit of attention, being in a border state and spending time in your wonderful city, and am happy to see Trudeau get elected PM) but, the honest question here shouldn't be what will he do, but what can he do? Given the current make up of our house of representatives, and senate, and their dislike for anything liberal sounding, I am will in bet they will block him even if he tried doing away will all gun control.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Just the fact that his is not corporate sponsored is a great start. Knowing that he doesn't support and is looking to break up citizens united and super pacts is another. Changing the current "trickle down" economic and tax structure is another place he will make change that will help the middle class. He is making a stand against corporate control of the government. There is also changes he would like to make to education/college and to health care. If you are honestly asking what, I suggest doing the leg work on google, cause its a bit more comprehensive than I have time to get into ATM. I get as a Canadian you are probably as interested in our politics as we are in yours (personally, I do pay a bit of attention, being in a border state and spending time in your wonderful city, and am happy to see Trudeau get elected PM) but, the honest question here shouldn't be what will he do, but what can he do? Given the current make up of our house of representatives, and senate, and their dislike for anything liberal sounding, I am will in bet they will block him even if he tried doing away will all gun control.

I figured since he was your guy you would have some specifics on how he was going to help the middle class, possibly a link or two.

 

[FoolKiller]

History. Slavery, Jim Crowe, Gerrymandering, voter restriction laws

All were government enforced.

There is a huge difference between a business owner choosing or not choosing to force certain races to only eat in certain places or ride certain seats and having the government require it.

You went from government enforced discrimination to government forced no discrimination. One extreme to the other in limiting rights of free association.

 

[Sanji Himura]

Cleaned up the OP a bit. I reordered the candidates by order of announcement, added in the dates of the GOP debates (if you need me to single those out, let me know), and finally added in new Obama Job Approval numbers (something that I will do twice a month until we hit Super Tuesday or beyond.

 

[Dotini]

Patrick Buchanan's explanation of Trumps popularity:

"What the Trump campaign reveals is that, to populists and Republicans, the political establishment and its media arm are looked upon the way the commons and peasantry of 1789 looked upon the ancien regime and the king’s courtiers at Versailles."

http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/why-liberal-media-hate-trump/

 

[Joel]

How long do we gloss over the fact that Trump's popularity is on the back of fascist ideas? It isn't just "wacky" stuff he talks about, a wall with Mexico, a registry of Muslim men, constant racism, jingoistic nationalism and a seemingly intentional ignorance of international trade.

I don't know that Trump is a joke anymore, and if he is, he sure as hell is no longer funny.

 

[Dennisch]

How long do we gloss over the fact that Trump's popularity is on the back of fascist idea

I think, and now stay with me here, I think until he beats Hillary.

 

[Joel]

I think, and now stay with me here, I think until he beats Hillary.

What I mean is this reverence of how great it is that he's anti establishment and "says what he thinks". Complain about the establishment all you want but out and out fascism isn't an improvement.

 

[Dennisch]

What I mean is this reverence of how great it is that he's anti establishment and "says what he thinks". Complain about the establishment all you want but out and out fascism isn't an improvement.

If it's the wish of the American people, or a rather large part of it, there's very little you and I can do about it, because, well, that's a working democracy.

 

[FoolKiller]

How long do we gloss over the fact that Trump's popularity is on the back of fascist ideas? It isn't just "wacky" stuff he talks about, a wall with Mexico, a registry of Muslim men, constant racism, jingoistic nationalism and a seemingly intentional ignorance of international trade.

I don't know that Trump is a joke anymore, and if he is, he sure as hell is no longer funny.

I find Trump funny. I find the amount of support he gets disturbing.

I will say that the people I know who support him constantly changes. It's like people hear one or two things and support him for "telling it like it is" but then begin to really pay attention and realize their mistake. Most of the Trump supporters I knew in June aren't the Trump supporters I know today.

There are a few die hards, but that tells me a lot about them.

 

[Touring Mars]

I don't know that Trump is a joke anymore, and if he is, he sure as hell is no longer funny.

And he's now higher in the polls than he has ever been (RCP average: 30.8%, lead over 2nd place: 13.3%)