Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I remember a thread like this in the OT a while ago, but since this is the official presidential election day, I thought I'd start another one.

I'd vote for Obama.

I'd vote for Obama

I try and stay out of US politics. It's like a family feud - they'll both turn on you if you get involved.

I'd vote Obama just to keep him in office. I'd feel bad if the first black president didn't get two terms.

Plus you know.... black guy in the white house. What's not to love about that.

Polls that use options for "don't care" or similar sentiments are inherently flawed. Their view is already adequately represented by not voting in the poll at all.

As the first American to type as well as vote...I'm voting for Obama. Strangely, although I've heard of people I know voting for Romney, anyone I've directly spoken with has shown support for Obama only. Romney supporters in my circle have only been hearsay, passed on from other Obama supporters.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Damn it Ouze, posting on my phone you beat me in. I'm not the first American responding now. Jerk.

 Ouze wrote:
Polls that use options for "don't care" or similar sentiments are inherently flawed. Their view is already adequately represented by not voting in the poll at all.

helps to know how many people don't care

I voted for Romney.

 Sasori wrote:
I voted for Romney.

just curious, so feel free to ignore me but why?

 nomsheep wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
Polls that use options for "don't care" or similar sentiments are inherently flawed. Their view is already adequately represented by not voting in the poll at all.

helps to know how many people don't care

I agree with nomsheep, any poll worth it's salt should represent the undecided margin. It's like when polls give the option to Agree/Disagree but not Neither Agree Nor Disagree - it ends up forcing camps and creating false divides. So yeah, quite the opposite in fact. In this instance, sure, people could not vote, but even then you've missed out on seeing what proportion don't care. Personally, that's still interesting to me.

 nomsheep wrote:

 Sasori wrote:
I voted for Romney.

just curious, so feel free to ignore me but why?

I preferred him over Obama.

I'm not here to get into a political debate.

 Sasori wrote:

 nomsheep wrote:

 Sasori wrote:
I voted for Romney.

just curious, so feel free to ignore me but why?

I preferred him over Obama.

I'm not here to get into a political debate.

tis cool, i know almost nothing about either candidate and have no real desire to. British politics annoy and confuse me enough.

 Ouze wrote:
Polls that use options for "don't care" or similar sentiments are inherently flawed. Their view is already adequately represented by not voting in the poll at all.

I think it's intresting to see how many people don't care. A poll is flawed when one option is represented by not voting in it imo.

Not voting is a legitimate option in every election.

 MrMerlin wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
Polls that use options for "don't care" or similar sentiments are inherently flawed. Their view is already adequately represented by not voting in the poll at all.

I think it's intresting to see how many people don't care. A poll is flawed when one option is represented by not voting in it imo.

There are nearly 5,000 people browsing Dakka right now. There are 19 votes in this poll, currently. You now know how many people "don't care", which is to say, most.

A better option would be adding "I refuse to vote, American)" since that covers people that are aware of the election and actively choose not to vote for whatever reason. Perhaps also "Not eligible to vote, American" to cover the posters who are not yet 18 or are felons. This is more useful data to glean, in my opinion.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 d-usa wrote:
Not voting is a legitimate option in every election.

Sure, but it's inherently useless information to get. It's non-data. It's only useful if you parse it somehow, such as "Not voting because I don't like the candidates" or whatever.

I don't mean this specific to this poll, I mean this to every Poll on dakka. There should never really be a "I don't care" option without adding some sort of disriminator.

The last option with the added "Why is it all over the news as if we could vote on it, pushing proper stories to the side?". Somewhat rhetorical I know.

Voted. Picked Republican for President, Republican for Senator, Democrat for House, Democrat for Mayor, Republicans for open City Council seats, and Democrats for the school board.

That's how you split a ticket, kids.

So Independents dont count? Thanks I guess. Apparently I dont care because Im not voting Republican or Democrat.

I skipped the presidential ballot, voted Democrat for state house, Independent for federal house, Republican for Sheriff.

Ill vote Repub for sheriff, always do. Not sure on the others yet, Ive got a few folks in mind, but Ill make the decision when I get there I guess. I know for certain Im not voting Repub/Dem for President though.

 Ouze wrote:

 MrMerlin wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
Polls that use options for "don't care" or similar sentiments are inherently flawed. Their view is already adequately represented by not voting in the poll at all.

I think it's intresting to see how many people don't care. A poll is flawed when one option is represented by not voting in it imo.

There are nearly 5,000 people browsing Dakka right now. There are 19 votes in this poll, currently. You now know how many people "don't care", which is to say, most.

A better option would be adding "I refuse to vote, American)" since that covers people that are aware of the election and actively choose not to vote for whatever reason. Perhaps also "Not eligible to vote, American" to cover the posters who are not yet 18 or are felons. This is more useful data to glean, in my opinion.

So 4981 people don't care, you say? yeah right.

 Ouze wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 d-usa wrote:
Not voting is a legitimate option in every election.

Sure, but it's inherently useless information to get. It's non-data. It's only useful if you parse it somehow, such as "Not voting because I don't like the candidates" or whatever.

I don't mean this specific to this poll, I mean this to every Poll on dakka. There should never really be a "I don't care" option without adding some sort of disriminator.

People who don't vote are as much a political group as every party. Some candidates target that group to get more votes. It's always good to know how big it is, istead of saying "everyone who doesn't vote in this poll belongs to that group"

 KingCracker wrote:
Ill vote Repub for sheriff, always do. Not sure on the others yet, Ive got a few folks in mind, but Ill make the decision when I get there I guess. I know for certain Im not voting Repub/Dem for President though.

Virgil Goode 2012, Keep The Dream - Not Martin Luther King, Jr.'s - Alive!

 MrMerlin wrote:
So 4981 people don't care, you say? yeah right.

For the purposes of this poll...

 MrMerlin wrote:
People who don't vote are as much a political group as every party.

Yes, but because they don't actually vote, their opinions are essentially meaningless.

 Ouze wrote:

Yes, but because they don't actually vote, their opinions are essentially meaningless.

Do you have a method of protest voting in the states, like damaging the ballot in the UK? That is to say, protesting the political system? Because those people don't vote, but I would not consider their opinions essentially meaningless.

 Ouze wrote:

 MrMerlin wrote:
So 4981 people don't care, you say? yeah right.

For the purposes of this poll...

 MrMerlin wrote:
People who don't vote are as much a political group as every party.

Yes, but because they don't actually vote, their opinions are essentially meaningless.

Their opinion might be meaningless, but their number is intresting to most.

 Ouze wrote:

 MrMerlin wrote:
So 4981 people don't care, you say? yeah right.

For the purposes of this poll...

 MrMerlin wrote:
People who don't vote are as much a political group as every party.

Yes, but because they don't actually vote, their opinions are essentially meaningless.

No their opinions are not meaningless, not even essentially.

Would you accept the word "worthless" instead? It's like trying to determine how many goldfish were inclined to like Romney. Since they didn't actually vote, it has zero affect on the election (or in this case, the poll).

The only way it's not useless to gather this is if you try to quantify why they don't care. "Didn't like the candidates" would be a way of measuring how disaffected them are.

 Ouze wrote:
Would you accept the word "worthless" instead? It's like trying to determine how many goldfish were inclined to like Romney. Since they didn't actually vote, it has zero affect on the election (or in this case, the poll).

The only way it's not useless to gather this is if you try to quantify why they don't care. "Didn't like the candidates" would be a way of measuring how disaffected them are.

I think we can measure how disaffected they are the moment they don't bother to vote, regardless of the reason why (excluding of course those that can't vote).

 Ouze wrote:
Would you accept the word "worthless" instead? It's like trying to determine how many goldfish were inclined to like Romney. Since they didn't actually vote, it has zero affect on the election (or in this case, the poll).

The only way it's not useless to gather this is if you try to quantify why they don't care. "Didn't like the candidates" would be a way of measuring how disaffected them are.

Yeah it's intresting to know why they don't vote, but not essential.
Goldfish can't be targeted by the candidates of the next election, the people who don't vote today can.

untill i can vote for Sherrif Joe, im not voting