In my neighborhood, the trump supporters are more vocal but there are far more Clinton supporters. Most of my stripper friends are trump supporters. I don't believe many of them will actually vote. I am sure even fewer have actually taken the time to study any candidate. At first I thought it was them telling me what they thought I wanted to hear but now I think it is more that he is a rich celebrity with a beautiful wife.

Michigan here. I have yet to meet anyone who openly supports Hillary. I know a few who unfortunately support Trump. A bunch of other younger conservative friends seem to be without a candidate or are warming up to Gary Johnson.

As for the many many Bernie supporting people I know (which I am included in), they are not really making any moves or getting behind any candidate just yet. Kinda just crossing their fingers for a progressive running mate for Hillary, or jumping over to Jill Stein or Gary Johnson.

Talk about an awful election year...

Hillary is too conservative for my taste but against Trump I see no choice. She'll be an okay president but not as good as Obama.

I'm a former socially liberal centrist/Republican turned independent who sides more with democratic progressives. One would think Hillary falls right into my wheelhouse due to my prior centrist leanings.

But I just can't bring myself to vote for her unless she blows me away with her veep pick. I have zero trust in her and she scares me. She wouldn't he as good as Obama like you say, and I'm not an Obama fan. I'd rather vote 3rd party and have the herd protect the country from Trump than cast a vote for her. This seems to be a common sentiment from the vocal Bernie fans.

How does it seem to get worse every year? The democrats should be ashamed of putting forth Hillary, and any true conservative who voted for Trump should be equally ashamed. The libertarians are putting forth candidates who are even wackier than Ron Paul. But why are we surprised? Look at the before and after pictures of Bubba, W, and Barry. One job for eight years. They all went in fairly youthful, dark haired, and came out skinny, gray haired, with a practical death pallor to their skin. Except for Bubba, he was always chubby until after office, but came out no less gray haired and line-faced. Add to that the name-calling, the insults, threats, scrutiny, demeanment, and 2am phone calls. So who is dumb enough to want that job? Asked and answered.

My far left friends are so freaked out by Trump they're giving up on Bernie to support Hillary.

The Latinos in particular seem fired up to stop Trump.

I'm getting drunk then voting. We will see what happens

Lol

I live in the Midwest in "fly over" country and run with a rather politically conservative crowd.

No one will admit being for Trump so I can't understand how he won the nomination. They all hate Hillary too but say they are voting for her by default.

Hillary would win the election very easily if held today:

predictwise.com

If anyone's paying attention, Trump went on record at the end of May stating that federal judge Gonzalo Curiel could not preside over the Trump University lawsuit because of his Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana. That got immediate condemnation of racism from people in his own party -- like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney. Ryan called Trump a "textbook racist." Trump started falling in the polls immediately afterword and his bullshit comments after Orlando made things worse for him.

Things are so bad for Trump that he fired his campaign manager Lewandawski a few days ago out of desperation.

Trump sounds like an incoherent teenage when he's not reading from a teleprompter. There will be pressure on him to stick to rehearsed speeches -- but I predict an easy win for Hillary. Wouldn't be at all surprised if the Dems take back the Senate, too.

*teenager

^^^ when something is so easy you fuck it up?

That's what I think of when it comes to Trump. Sure, he had to cause some controversy to get the nomination, fine. Now you're there, all everyone says is how much they loath Hillary, Bernie's out of the way, gee Trump keep your fucking mouth shut and you probably have a pretty damn good chance at the White House. But he can't... His ego keeps getting in the way.

if trump were to stick to the it is me or Hilary message, he would have a very good chance. I some times think he doesn't want to win. He has figured out a way to milk this for as much money as he can and winning doesn't lead to that. Kind of like his bankruptcies. he could have run the businesses differently and made a profit but he made more with less effort by going bankrupt. He could run a winning campaign but he'll make more with less effort by running a losing campaign.

I'll vote for Trump because he's not Hillary. She is, by far, one of - if not the most despicable, dishonest, hypocritical, contemptible, incompetent frauds in American politics today. Stopping her should be a national priority. I know she has fans. I know there are a lot of reasons to vote against Trump. But she is more dangerous and intends to willfully inflict more damage on the US than Trump ever could inflict incidentally.

^^^ the lesser of two evils approach.

Trump is gaining more momentum by the day, and Hillary is losing more momentum by the day. By November I see Trump wiping Hillary out. Trump is seen as a candidate with change, and Hillary is seen as someone as with the same politics as Obama. I guess America wants change.

I would have voted for Bernie. I don't like Hillary or Trump, but if you put a gun to my head I would vote Hillary, just because of the unknown with Trump.

If you can't pick one to vote for, pick one to vote against.

Is it overly paranoid to sometimes think that the political parties are secretly allied together, with a common endgame, and falsely creating competition to set us at each others throats and distract us from seeing what they are actually orchestrating?

^^They are. Republican and Democrat is just a distraction. The really political parties are (1) those with wealth > 1 million USD ... and (2) the rest of us. The gap is widening.

^^^ right I thought it was:

Wealth > 10 million!!!!!!!

Seems that way.

It depends on where you think the "haves" are. Are they the top 10%? Top 3? Top 2? Top 1? Top 0.1? I know wealth Explodes once you figure the 0.1% and especially top 0.01%. Top 1% is really a bunch of professionals like Doctors and Lawyers. These are hard-working chaps and for the most part, are not the problem. Here, in the Northeast Ohio area, the dividing line is probably top 10%. If you are up there, you are doing well. your kids will have an advantaged education and you will probably support them financially in their 20s so they will do well in this world. Below that, and you need a lot of grit, conscientiousness, persistence, and a bit of intelligence to do the same, but it is possible. Conscientiousness is really lacking.

Overall, I think I agree with you. I should have wrote $10 million.

Here in Northeast Ohio, this is a democratic stronghold. We also have huge apathy in feeling "our (individual) vote does not matter." So many stay home and don't vote.

Hillary is seen as the "electable" candidate and the democratic candidate with foreign relations experience. She is also seen as the candidate with ideals that could get reasonably passed through Congress. Whereas Bernie was too pie-in-the-sky and his ideas not seen as practically achievable through Congress. Many former republicans also voted in the democratic primary instead as they saw the Trump vs Kasich choices to be bland or did not matter, and these former GOP supporters had more of an interest is seeing Hilary or Bernie get the nomination. Most democratic supporters would prefer it if President Obama could serve a 3rd term or would rather re-elect Bill Clinton.

Trump is seen as the anti-establishment candidate, especially among those with no college backgrounds. He has supporters who actually BELIEVE that Trump will (1) renegotiate the "China Trade Deal" and bring jobs back to the U.S., particularly manufacturing jobs. (yeah right). And (2) he'll stop the good-for-nothing immigrants from taking American jobs from Americans (almost like a "grandfather clause" in that ,if you r grandfather was American, then you are ENTITLED to upper-middle-class lifestyle, if not, your ass should be deported. Yes, these people exist. They drive cars with Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes comics) either depicted as peeing on a Ford logo or peeing on Obama's name (One Big Ass Mistake America) on their Monto Carlos, Grand Prix, or their S-10 or Silverado pickup trucks. There were a number of Kasich or Cruz supporters. Both feel unsure who to vote for. Cruz supporters will vote party line but the Kasich supporters are unsure.

If you put a gun to most Northeast Ohioan's heads, many will compromise and vote for Hillary. But for the most part, people are going to vote along party lines. Or you vote with who will protect what you have. For example, many SAHMs, are pro-Trump, even though he makes derogatory remarks against women. Why? Because these SAHMs feel Trump will protect what they have (their husband has a good job, and they have a good lifestyle). I know some SAHWs or SAHMs who are like that, even though they are socially liberal.

If you're strongly 2nd Amendment rights, strongly anti-abortion, strongly anti-LBGT (especially anti-transgender), strongly Christian church-going , or if you are a business owner or have wealth, you vote republican.

If you are strongly pro-choice on abortion rights, strongly pro LBGT (especially pro-transgender), a minority, a single woman, or a blue collar or non-management white collar, you vote democrat.

If you're a hippie in college, you vote Libertarian or Green or something. :D

A disaster will occur on Election Day and we'll get what we unfortunately deserve.

.. oh. I know why I wrote $1 million. When one has the first million, the second million comes along easier. (1) you've figure out how to make wealth (or you've figured out your talent for getting it) plus you have a cushion for taking risks, which can also increase wealth. Also you are better equipped to invest and save at that point. Many people are too complacent (myself included!) and don't take enough risks or focus work in the right directions.

.. but like you wrote, $1 million is achievable for many people. Just get a degree in a technical field that's in demand, get a low 6-figure professional job, live a frugal lifestyle (like on $25K/yr or less), save and invest the difference, retire at 35. Isn't that how Mr. Money Mustache did it?

I will be holding my nose when I pull the Hillary lever. I just can't bring myself to vote for that buffoon Trump.

I hope that we never do this to ourselves again.

Poop

Anyone that will vote for a white man, to be President of the United States of America is crazy. You can't deal with a strong minded white woman. Why?, Because she exposes your weakness, and entitlement of what's not yours. Look at that communist Bernie. He knew what the Democrats rules were. That old white man has been entitle all his life. And don't get me started on that mentally unstable Donald Trump.

No, not really, Throwbackthursday, we've elected some very good men as President. We aren't certain Hillary is a woman. She's got balls, that's for sure. :)

^^ we had a halfway decent conversation going before the trolls came out

@vincemichaels,-Most white women have grown balls. Because when she look at her man , she sees a whimp . Bill Clinton, George W.Bush, Trump, Bernie Sanders.

Hillary for President, Warren for Vice President. I'm coming at this thing from a Psychological survey

What a joke. Hillary has proven she is a lying ass hole in office. Trump has not. Vote for Trump

"I'm coming at this thing from a psychological survey"? Please tell me English is not your first language, because you suck at it.

And mikeya02 is 100% right. Just think of your vote for Trump as a vote against Hillary. That's what I'll be doing.

I still think the party conventions will be more interesting than ever. The Republicans have a Rules Committee that has a vocal group who are pushing a proposal to "release" all delegates to "vote their conscience" which could lead to candidate Paul Ryan. On the Democratic side, Sanders supporters are planning to impact on the party platform in a way which could counter Hillary's bellicose manner and place far more emphasis on income inequality and campaign finance. I'm in the bluest of the blue states, Taxachusetts, where Republicans are as rare intelligent strippers, however one of them is Governor of the Commonwealth, but is very much a centrist (fiscal conservative & social liberal). I think there's lots more to hear from the "centrist" republicans before crowning Drumph. Whether the Demoncrats can win back the Senate may be the most important question in that the composition of the SCOTUS will be set by the Senate and that has great implications for the progressive agenda.

@gammanu95&mikeya02. It will be a long time before America elect a white man as President again. So get over it.

This is a great topic for discussion in a strip club. Most of the strippers I know have great insight and perspective on these issues.

Maybe throwbackThursday is a stripper. That's why she keeps calling herself a psych student, and explains her intelligent political analysis.

@gawker You are correct, this is a great discussion to have with strippers. My white female classmates and white stripper, are the ones telling me their men's are wimps. And because of his entitlement attitude, most refuse to have his white babies, thus, shrinking white population.

For the record I'm a male, Asian (Vietnamese) mix with black.100%American.

vm laughs at this moron, Throwbackthursday, you are a dickless fool.

+1 @Gawker

LOL

Funny billboard in Tennessee:

tinyurl.com

Trump-inspired Tennessee candidate for Congress erects “Make America White Again” billboard, draws boycott

"A disaster will occur on Election Day and we'll get what we unfortunately deserve."

I agree it will be a disaster and doubtless many will deserve what we end up with but I don't count myself among them. I never did and still don't want either candidate.

Only thing I can say is that she supports construction workers. Proof below. Watch to the end or the 1:00 mark.

youtube.com

@vincemichaels, No the disaster occurred in Nov 2000 with W.Bush election. And that is a fact, a 3 trillion dollar cowboy war.A collapse of our financial institutions , Trillions more.

Hey Vince , you impotence SOB, you better frame that picture of W.Bush and Dick Cheney. Because you will never see a ticket with a white male President and Vice President get elected in this country again.

Even, Ted Cruz got the memo with his V.P. pick

Some of you losers, keep saying Trump and Sanders is running against the establishment. How can this be true, when all our previous Presidents, except Obama have been white males

Hell they are the establishment.

Both men are playing games on the uninformed.

Fuck you dickbreath.

You sound like that dickless fool, Dougster. Do you still suck his cock? He used to pontificate as you. FYI, I never voted for young Bush, the politician. I fuck young female bush all the time.

A few quick comments on this utterly depressing election:

1. This absurdity from Throwbackthursday: "Anyone that will vote for a white man, to be President of the United States of America is crazy." tells me that he has no credibility whatsoever. What an imbecilic thing to say! Clearly racism isn't just a white phenomenon.
2. How do I know that vincemichael's statement "A disaster will occur on Election Day and we'll get what we unfortunately deserve." is true? Because we're going to elect either Trump or Clinton!
3. I'm inclined to disagree with Dominic77's claim "Cruz supporters will vote party line". I know that very many Republican conservatives (like me) will vote for the Libertarian candidate (former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson) or for no one before they vote for either Crooked Clinton or Daffy Donald.

#NeverTrump #NeverClinton (Yeah, I know -- one of them is going to win. But I won't be complicit in it!)

Fight fight fight fight

Terrible choices, I don't think I can vote for either Clinton or Trump. May have to write in someone.

Mr. Deuce you have no credibility. Be honest with yourself. Have you ever cast a ballot, in a Presidential election, for anyone other than a white male . Well this question is for all white men on this site. The only people in the world that have a problem with this are, Muslim extremists. And most American white males .

Your entitlement attitude also make you an idiotic.

dont take the bait that @mikey is putting out there. he is posting as @Throwbackthursday trying to get everybody worked up. he cant help himself because hes addicted to trolling

just remember that @mikey is not the conservative white male he portreys himself as. he is actually a hipster with dreadlocks and a soul patch that wears hemp cloths and plays hacky sacky 24/7 except for the time he takes off to cash his welfare checks.

he also avoids showering for months at a time so he has a powerful aroma. my private eyes have identified him and we will soon be getting him the psychiatric help he so desperately needs

So that was the stench down the aisle. Thanks for the warning, DoctorPhil.

MrDeuce --> " I'm inclined to disagree with Dominic77's claim "Cruz supporters will vote party line". I know that very many Republican conservatives (like me) will vote for the Libertarian candidate" --> end quote MrDeuce

Oh, no, I don't think we disagree completely. There might be some parallels and there might be some convergences between us. I was only giving my perspective on the Cruz supporters I know in NorthEast Ohio. These are likely not the same type of people who are Mr. Cruz supporters where you are. Mr. Cruz supporters I've talked to are strongly anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-transgender (social conservatives). These Cruz supporters aren't following Ted because he's a rookie senator or because he's an outsider, or whatever attribute(s) the supporters we've spoken to like about Ted.

MrDeuce, I agree with you about supporting Libertarian candidates. I, myself, believe along those lines of libertarianism (or at least how I view Libertarianists) -- fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I'd vote Libertarian myself if I thought the candidate could garner more than 1-5% of the popular vote in a general election!

Throwbackthursday --> "Be honest with yourself. Have you ever cast a ballot, in a Presidential election, for anyone other than a white male . Well this question is for all white men on this site" --> end quote Throwbackthursday

Okay, I'll bite. Yes, twice. To tell you the truth I was somewhat hoping to see a hispanic woman run this cycle. Sadly one did not seem to appear (that I saw).

I also tend to follow the advice of my grandmother, in elections:

(1) vote female, and minority, or under-represented European ethnicity, when I can. (2) vote for the challenger, unless I'm really happy with the current guy -- aka "throw the bums out." I like one-term politicians and dispise career policitians for state and local govts.
(3) if they're asking to amendment a law, and I don't completely understand it, I assume they asking something they can't already do, and probably shouldn't be doing. So I vote no (less govt power).

@Dominic wrote: "I agree with you about supporting Libertarian candidates."

Just to get a glimpse into the mind of a Libertarian:

(1) Free-market capitalism allowed investment banks to cause huge misery and wipe out $15 Trillion in wealth during the Great Recession of 2008. Is government intervention every allowed to a Libertarian? Is the government allowed to regulate the banks?

(2) Brilliant federal reserve policy is really the only thing that saved us from catastrophe after 2008. It was the brilliant intervention of Bernanke (who happened to be a Republican) who saved us. Is the government allowed to intervene in such catastrophes? I thought Libertarians want to dismantle the Federal Reserve?

(3) If your house is burning down, is it okay to call the fire department. Or should you put the fire out yourself?

Ah, revisionist history and selective memory at its liberal lowest. Let's get the facts straight: 1)well intentioned but poorly conceived liberal equal opportunity housing legislation signed by Jimmy Carter went ignored and unenforced during the 80s and 90s, since Reagan knew it would be disastrous to the economy he was rebuilding. Clinton and his dem congress signed legislation in the 90s that gave the Carter law new teeth. The only way the banks could support so many loans to such unqualified homebuyers was through ARMs and layered subsidies. Greed came in to play and added fuel to the fire, but the fire was set by Clinton, Carter, and democrat run Congress. 2) regardless of what Bernanke did, this collapse was only postponed. Yellen's and Obama's policy of quantitative easing will make a bad problem 100x worse when the check comes due. Tying the dollar to a construction like the stock market is what has made it so vulnerable. There is some merit to going back on the Gold Standard, but only if it were modified to be measured by GDP. 3) what the fuck has that got to do with the price of tea in China?

"well intentioned but poorly conceived liberal equal opportunity housing legislation signed by Jimmy Carter went ignored and unenforced during the 80s and 90s"

Nobody who's spent more than 15 min studying the issue believes that lending to poor people caused the housing crash (okay, maybe fake economists like Larry Kudlow who has Trump's ear). Looking at the facts, this is a non-partisan issue. If there's any clear blame, it would probably be Glass-Stegall and the deregulation of the banks that occurred under Bill Clinton. Okay? So we can blame the Democrats. Blaming government lending to poor people is right-wing myth.

LOL! Blaming Yellen and Obama for Q.E. started by Bernanke is almost bizarre!

I agree with you on one thing: Q.E. might have just postponed an inevitable collapse.

The point is that lack of government oversight caused the crash in the first place and brilliant intervention by Bernanke saved us (or at least postponed a catastrophe). I just wonder how Libertarians deal these issues.

I'm going to do something crazy and agree with Random Member. Banks should be regulated. Not controlled nor managed, but merely regulated and occasionally audited by government. Unfortunately, government workers are just as or even more prone to corruption than the private sector (remember everything we learned after the Deepwater Horizon disaster). I'm also going to agree that libertarians are fucking loons. I listen to Glenn Beck blowing these guys (he calls them interviews), and I just can't believe anyone actually thinks this way.
Disagree on Bernanke: He would not have advocated QE as long-term fiscal policy going on for a fucking decade. It was supposed to be one time fix until a long term solution could be made.
And yes, the government forcing the banks to make loans to people who could not pay back those loans was the root cause - ROOT CAUSE- of the housing collapse and Obama Recession.

@Gamma: Sounds like we agree on a few things, anyway.

Honestly commend you on caring about the topic at all. The financial collapse was the single biggest event since the Great Depression and I think we should all try our best to understand what happened as citizens so that it doesn't happen again.

Just quickly -- the worst crisis in the housing bubble occurred in high-income parts of California (where I used to live) and Florida -- not in the inner cities. So that doesn't support your idea that lending to low-income families was "the root cause." Also the collapse was international and could not possibly have had anything to do with government policy here. Most of the private lenders that made sub-prime loans weren't even under the umbrella of the Carter-era rules you were talking about. Just, sincerely, keep your mind open.

Obama inherited an economy in free-fall; he didn't cause it.

We could go back and forth all day long, RM, so let's agree that rich and poor, black and white, Communist or Anarchist, you would have to look far and wide to reasonably identify one faction of American society that was not directly or indirectly responsible. Even myself. I had a seven-year ARM on a house that I had bought in Chicago around 2001 or 2002. Thank God I sold it and moved to NOLA in 2004. Anyways, fail to learn from the mistakes of the past and doomed to repeat them and all that. I have a 15-yr fixed now. But American voters are searching for another outsider with bold ideas just like 2008. And behold, we have an unexpected rookie vs. the consummate career insider, just like 2008 (the parties are just reversed). Republicans are complaining about holding their noses while voting, just like 2008. Mistakes of the past...

PS, I never said inner-city blacks caused the housing crisis. Check those micro-aggressions, friend.

--> " I'm inclined to disagree with Dominic77's claim "Cruz supporters will vote party line". I know that very many Republican conservatives (like me) will vote for the Libertarian candidate (former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson) or for no one before they vote for either Crooked Clinton or Daffy Donald." -->

For some of the people around me, especially in the farming communities, Gary Johnson is probably a non-starter since libertarians are historically not "pro religious freedoms." But near the city where I live I hear more about Gary Johnson. Is this guy backable as President? Do you feel he is pro small business? Any feedback?

Admittedly I have to read alot about him online, which is good and bad. I still need to sort of what's try and what's embellished.

ontheissues.org

rockstar is correct, Hillary is slightly to the right of Obama, and she'll be almost as good of a President.

SJG