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If, during the primary elections, you deem some candidates to be more competent than their opponents, but less electable***...would you be more inclined to vote for the more competent person to be your party's nominee...or for the more electable one?

Essentially what I am looking for is: Is electability your major criteria for your vote...or is electability.

***As a "for instance"...younger white males are often considered to have an electability advantage over female or non-white persons.

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 95 • Replies: 5

[+3] - hightor - 05/07/2026It's going to be really dicey. First, you've got all the partisan redistricting going on right now. And you've got the courts filled with Republican appointees â�� many of whom, as you...

@Frank Apisa,

I'm afraid that I've been guilty of that, Frank.

Writing as a Democrat, it didn't matter as much when the GOP ran reasonable candidates, you could vote on principles and, ideally, enough people shared your principles to give your candidate a victory in November, or at least make a good showing, putting them in good stead for another run next election cycle. And you could count on the Republican winner to uphold the Constitution, resist attempts at bribery, and generally cast responsible votes on the issues that really mattered.

There have been exceptions. Competent but mixed-raced, Obama might have been a gamble, but he was well-spoken, obviously intelligent, and genuinely exciting – people were sick of Bush II and we were willing to support him in the primaries and vote him into office.

I suspect a lot of Republicans ditched Jeb, Rubio, Kasich, Christie, et al and voted for Trump in '16 after he started winning, asking themselves, "how much damage could he really do?" After twenty-odd years of undeserved vilification it was "anyone but Hillary".

Michelle Obama recently said that the US, "isn't ready for a female president" – it's too bad, but I think she's right. It's an indictment of the electorate, not the candidate.

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@hightor,

hightor wrote:

I'm afraid that I've been guilty of that, Frank.

Writing as a Democrat, it didn't matter as much when the GOP ran reasonable candidates, you could vote on principles and, ideally, enough people shared your principles to give your candidate a victory in November, or at least make a good showing, putting them in good stead for another run next election cycle. And you could count on the Republican winner to uphold the Constitution, resist attempts at bribery, and generally cast responsible votes on the issues that really mattered.

There have been exceptions. Competent but mixed-raced, Obama might have been a gamble, but he was well-spoken, obviously intelligent, and genuinely exciting – people were sick of Bush II and we were willing to support him in the primaries and vote him into office.

I suspect a lot of Republicans ditched Jeb, Rubio, Kasich, Christie, et al and voted for Trump in '16 after he started winning, asking themselves, "how much damage could he really do?" After twenty-odd years of undeserved vilification it was "anyone but Hillary".

Michelle Obama recently said that the US, "isn't ready for a female president" – it's too bad, but I think she's right. It's an indictment of the electorate, not the candidate.

I've got more to say in response to your comments, Hightor, but I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. I'll try to get to it tomorrow afternoon.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

hightor wrote:

I'm afraid that I've been guilty of that, Frank.

Quote:

I've got more to say in response to your comments, Hightor, but I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. I'll try to get to it tomorrow afternoon.

This question has been troubling me mightily recently. At some point during early 2028, the two major parties will have primaries to choose their presidential candidates for the next administration. The person, man or woman, chosen and elected will have his/her hands full trying to set this boat back on course...we are in the worst mess I have personally lived through and setting things right will take amazing skills. As I am sure you realize, I think the only people who can do it will come from the left...NOT FROM THE RIGHT. The right will almost certainly choose someone who will move us further from a reasonable path.

But the Democrats, who will choose the person from the left, are going to have to deal with the question I proposed.

Personally, I have often felt the competency of the individual should take precedence over the "electability"...but at other times, I've been of the mind that getting elected ought be the major factor because if one does not get elected, his/her agenda means very little. Ya gotta be in office to really make a difference.

Just wanted to get other opinions to help shape my own. Seems as though not many are interested in getting involved...although in one of my other fora, the question is being met with more gusto.

We'll see how this goes here.

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@Frank Apisa,

It's going to be really dicey. First, you've got all the partisan redistricting going on right now. And you've got the courts filled with Republican appointees – many of whom, as you know, are terrible. We'll see how this midterm election goes but if the Dems don't make historically huge gains in '28 they won't even be able to begin repairing the damage. And then in '30 there's federally-mandated redistricting. If we don't have an absolutely humming economy the voters are going to blame the people in office – for everything Trump screwed up; you know how that goes. I've said it before – I kind of wish I'd dropped dead right after Obama's first inauguration; could have gone out feeling pretty good about the USA.

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@hightor,

I understand what you mean here, Hightor.

Got a kick out of your way of saying it.

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