Split-ticket voting

[SingingAnalyst]

In 1964, many voters, but probably more in the Northeast, voted for Johnson while continuing to elect Republicans to lower offices. From 1968 through 1988 (but especially in 1972 and 1984), voters especially in the South (and in Macomb County) voted Republican for President and Democratic for lower offices.

I believe this largely ended in 1992, though Perot's presence in the race obscured this fact.

Today, voters who regularly split their votes are somewhat rare.

Will split-ticket voting be a thing again? I say No.

[Calthrina950]

In 1964, many voters, but probably more in the Northeast, voted for Johnson while continuing to elect Republicans to lower offices. From 1968 through 1988 (but especially in 1972 and 1984), voters especially in the South (and in Macomb County) voted Republican for President and Democratic for lower offices.

I believe this largely ended in 1992, though Perot's presence in the race obscured this fact.

Today, voters who regularly split their votes are somewhat rare.

Will split-ticket voting be a thing again? I say No.

I'm inclined to say No. As you know, 2016 was the first time ever in American history that every state voted exactly the same way in both its presidential and senatorial races. Split-ticket voting does still occur, and it will be critical for a number of Democratic Senators and/or Senatorial candidates this year (i.e. McCaskill, Tester, Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin, Nelson, Sinema, Bredesen), but it is no longer as widespread as it used to be. Which is a shame, and goes to show how polarized we have become.

[Lord Admirale]

I mean, I'm voting Republican for Senate (Bob Hugin), Democrat for House (Josh Gottheimer), and Republican for County Executive (Norman Schmelz), so yeah it'll still be a thing. It's always been a thing for both parties and will continue to be that way.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I mean, I'm voting Republican for Senate (Bob Hugin), Democrat for House (Josh Gottheimer), and Republican for County Executive (Norman Schmelz), so yeah it'll still be a thing. It's always been a thing for both parties and will continue to be that way.

To a significantly lesser extent though.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Yes this year MA, VT, MD, NV, ME, RI, FL and CT can vote differently for Gov and Sen. Middle class tax cuts are popular in NE gubernatorial elections, but not for the wealthy, and estates taxes at the Fed level

[SingingAnalyst]

It's going to be a huge thing in Massachusetts this very November.

Why?

[cvparty]

It's going to be a huge thing in Massachusetts this very November.

Why?

charlie

[here2view]

It's going to be a huge thing in Massachusetts this very November.

Why?

charlie

Definitely, I'm voting for Baker and Warren.

[SingingAnalyst]

I'm glad to hear it's still a thing in certain places. It certainly was in my youth: in 1982, the GOP didn't even bother running a candidate against pro-life Democratic Congressmen Dennis Hertel and David Bonior, both of whom represented parts of Macomb County. Two years later, Macomb went for Reagan 2-1, even as Hertel and Bonior were easily re-elected. Nowadays, splits like that seem to be less common.

[Ohioguy29]

I'm glad to hear it's still a thing in certain places. It certainly was in my youth: in 1982, the GOP didn't even bother running a candidate against pro-life Democratic Congressmen Dennis Hertel and David Bonior, both of whom represented parts of Macomb County. Two years later, Macomb went for Reagan 2-1, even as Hertel and Bonior were easily re-elected. Nowadays, splits like that seem to be less common.

I still see splits like that in the Ohio state legislature. Lots of Democrats easily won Trump districts; many ran unopposed, one guy won by 20 points. Joe Schiavoni (former senate minority leader and gubernatorial candidate) represents one of those districts. And lots of Trump voters seem to be planning to vote for Brown, although we'll see if that holds. We're going to need split ticket voting to still be a thing if we don't want the Ohio Democratic party to crumble.

[Greedo punched first]

What about Montana? Bullock and Tester are popular.

[Zaybay]

It's going to be a huge thing in Massachusetts this very November.

Why?

charlie

Definitely, I'm voting for Baker and Warren.

you are legitimately the first Baker Warren voter I have met, and I have done calling for Warren. All the Warren voters I called said they were either D or undecided for governor, with only 4 or 5 saying they supported Baker, if I recall correctly.

[here2view]

It's going to be a huge thing in Massachusetts this very November.

Why?

charlie

Definitely, I'm voting for Baker and Warren.

you are legitimately the first Baker Warren voter I have met, and I have done calling for Warren. All the Warren voters I called said they were either D or undecided for governor, with only 4 or 5 saying they supported Baker, if I recall correctly.

That's very interesting. I was pretty much always for him, especially because no Democratic candidate really sold me to not vote for Baker. I'm voting for him essentially because 1) he's pro-choice and 2) has children that go to public schools.

I'm a teacher so public schools matter a lot to me. I've taught at both private and public; I like public better and hate seeing them lose funding. I don't agree with his stances on charter schools but it's welcoming that his kids went/go to public ones.

Honestly though, he's really not that conservative, and he's done a good job so it's a semi-easy choice.

[Zaybay]

It's going to be a huge thing in Massachusetts this very November.

Why?

charlie

Definitely, I'm voting for Baker and Warren.

you are legitimately the first Baker Warren voter I have met, and I have done calling for Warren. All the Warren voters I called said they were either D or undecided for governor, with only 4 or 5 saying they supported Baker, if I recall correctly.

That's very interesting. I was pretty much always for him, especially because no Democratic candidate really sold me to not vote for Baker. I'm voting for him essentially because 1) he's pro-choice and 2) has children that go to public schools.

I'm a teacher so public schools matter a lot to me. I've taught at both private and public; I like public better and hate seeing them lose funding. I don't agree with his stances on charter schools but it's welcoming that his kids went/go to public ones.

Honestly though, he's really not that conservative, and he's done a good job so it's a semi-easy choice.

I will be honest, it is rather interesting to me as well. After that, I decided to do more surveys and phone banking for both Baker and The Dem candidates. And my results were surprising. This is one of the reasons that I stress that approval and support are not the same thing.

I see why Baker may appeal to you, but I would rather go with a Dem, especially after the Charter School support. That really burned a bridge between me and him. Being a teacher, from what I know, is rather stressful, and it sucks that he wanted more of the already rather small school budget to go to charter schools, which a good chunk of are scams and terrible. But, then again, I may be alone on this.

[Greedo punched first]

In California, maybe some wealthy conservative Feinstein-Cox voters due to a D vs. D Senate runoff? Republican State Senator Janet Nguyen actually carried Long Beach in the primary with a significant majority. I imagine this was due to split-ticket voting.

[Calthrina950]

One other thing I would add is that I am a split-ticket voter myself. Back in 2016, I voted for independent Evan McMullin for President, Democrat Michael Bennet for Senate, Libertarian Ed Clark for the U.S. House of Representatives, and Republican Heidi Ganahl for the State Board of Education. I also voted to re-elect Republican State Senator Owen Hill and Republican District Attorney Dan Mays, the latter of whom ran unopposed. And in 2018, I plan on voting for Democrat Jared Polis for Governor, Republican Wayne Williams for Secretary of State, Democrat Stephanie Spaulding for US. House of Representatives, and Republicans for County Commissioner, Coroner, Clerk, and Assessor. I am still undecided on the races for County Sheriff, Attorney General, and State Treasurer.

So at least with me, split-ticket voting is by no means a foreign concept, and I am very open to it.

[Greedo punched first]

Doug Ose and Darrell Issa will vote for Feinstein and Cox.

[Sumner 1868]

Alaska has seen this pretty consistently since the 1970s, mostly because neither party is really a good fit for the state.

[Greedo punched first]

In AZ-08 special, Tiperneni got 18% of the GOP vote.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Split-ticket voting is a product of a non-ideologocal party system or our state party systems being a collection of one-party systems. 

There were "Presidential Republicans" in the South since the 1920s.  There have been Reagan Democrats and Democrats for Nixon; they came about when the Democratic Party leaned too far leftward, or when a candidate (Reagan) made a very PERSONAL appeal to a class of voters who responded favorably, even though some were not close to the GOP, politically.  That's a thing of the past now; we have ideological parties and adherents that buy into the ideology.  Elections these days are decided by a very small group of swing voters.

I don't see this going back to the way it was in the 1960s and 1970s.  Those were an era where conservative and moderate Democrats resisted the national ticket, but held out hope that the party could be pulled back to the center again.  That didn't happen, and won't happen.  The GOP moderates and liberals weren't drummed out of the party, but there came a breaking point to where the secular Northeasterners gagged on Southern Fundamentalism.  (The secular Pacific Northwest came to that point in 1988.)  If there's a road back to where we once were, I don't see it.

[CookieDamage]

Split ticket is for when you like to appear Democratic and liberal but end up voting for Moderate Hero Republicans because you for some reason like screwing yourself over.

[Zaybay]

Split ticket is for when you like to appear Democratic and liberal but end up voting for Moderate Hero Republicans because you for some reason like screwing yourself over.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Split ticket is for when you like to appear Democratic and liberal but end up voting for Moderate Hero Republicans because you for some reason like screwing yourself over.