Schiff for Senate
CentristRepublican
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Posts: 12,187
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« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2022, 06:35:32 PM » |
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Overall, somebody who just really based their vote on how the economy is doing (the exception to this rule being 1992).A liberal college student in 1972, stayed liberal in 1976. Gradually became more conservative, didn’t like the whole Iran fiasco and the stagflation, and broke for Reagan in 1980. Pleasantly surprised by the recovering economy, he more enthusiastically supporter led Reagan in 1984 (1980 had been more of a protest vote against Carter than a vote for Reagan), and continued shifting rightward, particularly on kitchen table economic issues. Still very happy with the economy, he went for Bush in 1988. Much more hesitantly - given the bad economy and Bush’s “No new taxes” fiasco - he chose to stick with Bush in 1992. By 1996, however, he saw the good economy and flipped to Clinton. Still a conservative at heart, he returned to the GOP fold and went for Dubya twice, before voting for Obama because of the Great Depression. 2012 was an all right but not great time for the economy, and concerned about Obamacare (and, if socially conservative, the DADT repeal), he decided to vote for Mitt Romney - who he also felt reassured by because of his stellar business career. However, he was always much more of an establishment Republican, and he was very hesitant to back Donald Trump, opposing him in the primary and ultimately choosing to go third party in 2016 after Access Hollywood (if he lived out west, the only region of the country where McMullin made the ballot, the fact that he picked Johnson over McMullin may indicate he’s more moderate/libertarian than conservative on social issues). During Trump’s presidency, this observer’s opinion of him only fell (since this guy is a standard economic Republican, Trump being against free trade may be one factor in this). By this time an old man (at least 65 or 66), he was also worried about COVID. Thus, he chose to vote for Biden in 2020.
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