Do you feel that fewer Americans than in the past will just vote for 'the conservative candidate' because they identify themselves as conservatives, or liberals for a liberal, or Republicans for a Republican?

 

One of the great changes in British politics in the last twenty-odd years has been the fall in this kind of party loyalty - more and more people go into General Elections undecided, prepared to be persuaded. Unfortunately, more and more of them ultimately don't bother to vote at all.

We could hope. Some of the smartest people I've met are "independants". We really need more of those. Also, it would help if the American people would actually truly learn about their candidates, rather than just getting their info from TV news and political advertisements. If it were up to me, TV political advertisements would be banned. But alas, it's not. Hell, many Americans would rather watch American Idol than learn about what's happening in this world.

Steve:

I think that shift has happened in the U.S. as well.

 

I know a lot of traditional Democrats who couldn't bring themselves to vote for Kerry because they thought he was weak on terrorism or that he did not have strong convictions (flip-flopper, how I came to hate hearing that term). Some of them just thought he was too patrician, and although W comes from old money just as much as Kerry did, at least W has the "good ol' boy" thing going to identify with Joe Sixpack. Kerry's image pretty much screamed "I'm from New England and I drink tea regularly!"

 

Also, I know quite a few traditional Republicans who voted for Kerry because they 1) opposed Bush's exorbitant spending or 2) resented going to war in Iraq without finishing matters in Afghanistan.

 

 

I'm outta here. Have a good weekend everybody!