As Election Day gets closer\u2013involving votes not only for President but for a host of other state and local offices\u2013I offer two posts on factors that we all use in choosing which candidates to vote for.\u00a0 Today we will focus on aspects of the candidate that we consider, though we weigh them in different ways.\u00a0 Tomorrow we will focus on aspects of the election that have hardly anything to do with the candidate, as such, but with our own personal considerations.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that when we decide which candidate we vote for, we consider these four aspects of the various candidates:<\/p>\n
We consider the candidate\u2019s ideas.\u00a0 That is, his or her ideology, convictions, and positions on issues we care about.\u00a0 We assess those according to whether or not we agree with those ideas and the degree to which they are important to us.<\/p>\n
\n
Policies<\/h4>\n
These are the actions that the candidate\u00a0 has implemented, proposed, or has promised to carry out.\u00a0 Personal beliefs must be translated into actual policies in order to have a governmental or social impact.\u00a0 We voters evaluate those policies in terms of how they affect us and how successful we think they are or would be in advancing the public good.<\/p>\n
Personal Qualities<\/h4>\n
These include our perception of the candidate\u2019s character, personality, strengths, and flaws.\u00a0 We make a judgment about whether this person deserves our trust.\u00a0 We also determine whether or not we \u201clike\u201d this person.<\/p>\n
Effectiveness<\/h4>\n
This involves the results of the candidate\u2019s tenure in office.\u00a0 This means attending to an incumbent\u2019s record, as well as speculation about how we think an incumbent would perform.\u00a0Effectiveness also includes for\u00a0 executive offices the candidate\u2019s leadership and managerial abilities. We voters must decide, based on whatever information we have,\u00a0 whether or not the incumbent\u2019s policies worked and whether think the challenger\u2019s policies would work better.\u00a0 We also must make judgments for executive offices about the candidate\u2019s leadership\u2013do I want to follow this person?\u2013and the functioning of the administration he or she has or would put in place.<\/p>\n
Voters weigh and balance these factors in different ways, all of which can be quite legitimate<\/em>.<\/p>\nFor some, Belief<\/em>\u00a0 has priority.\u00a0 Is this person a conservative or a liberal?\u00a0 What is this candidate\u2019s religion?\u00a0 Is he or she pro-life?\u00a0 For\u00a0 number of voters, the candidate\u2019s beliefs are the prime consideration, outweighing Personal Qualities<\/em> and even Policies<\/em>.<\/p>\nA candidate for County Commissioner will likely have no impact on the abortion rate, but knowing that the candidate is pro-life suggests adherence to a more general conservative Christian worldview that voters who share that worldview will appreciate. And yet, some politicians have pro-life Beliefs<\/em>, and yet their Policies<\/em> have not addressed abortion at all, or even enabled abortion.\u00a0 For single-issue pro-life voters, Donald Trump scores highly on Beliefs<\/em>, Policies<\/em>, and Effectiveness<\/em>, even though they may have qualms about some of his Personal Qualities<\/em>.<\/p>\nSome voters share Trump\u2019s conservative Beliefs<\/em> and appreciate his conservative Policies<\/em>, but they cannot abide his\u00a0Personal Qualities<\/em>, to the point that they will vote for Joe Biden.\u00a0 Some voters, though, do<\/em> like Trump\u2019s Personal Qualities<\/em>, such as his unfiltered style and his iconoclastic manner.\u00a0 Some voters are highly committed to Trump\u2019s Beliefs<\/em> and Policies<\/em>, but think he has not been Effective <\/em>in advancing them, feeling that his Personal Qualities<\/em> have damaged the conservative brand.<\/p>\nSome Biden voters reject their candidate\u2019s\u00a0Beliefs<\/em> and Policies<\/em>\u2013either for being too liberal, or, for a significant number of Democrats, not nearly leftist enough\u2013and yet they vote for him for his Personal Qualities<\/em> or even for what they perceive as his lack<\/em> of Effectiveness<\/em>, thinking that he will be unable to fulfill the agenda they disagree with and can be influenced in their direction.<\/p>\nWhat other constellations of factors are you seeing or are yourself working through?\u00a0 Are there other dimensions to a candidate that we have overlooked here?<\/p>\n
To be sure, there are other factors in casting your vote other than<\/em> a particular candidate\u2019s qualities\u2013such as voting not for<\/em> but against<\/em> a candidate\u2013but we will discuss those tomorrow.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image by\u00a0Tumisu<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate’s beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":51730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,36],"tags":[4850,10127,740,2322],"class_list":["post-51713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-politics","tag-2020-presidential-election","tag-choosing-candidates","tag-elections","tag-voting"],"yoast_head":"\n
Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate's beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate's beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-15T10:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-14T15:43:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2020\/10\/hiring-1977803_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/\",\"name\":\"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-15T10:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-14T15:43:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate's beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate","description":"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate's beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate","og_description":"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate's beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2020-10-15T10:00:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-14T15:43:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2020\/10\/hiring-1977803_1280.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/","name":"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-10-15T10:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-14T15:43:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"In deciding whom to vote for, we consider a candidate's beliefs, policies, personal qualities, and effectiveness. But we can weigh and balance these in different ways.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/10\/deciding-how-to-vote-1-the-candidate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Deciding How to Vote #1: The Candidate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2020\/10\/hiring-1977803_1280.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n