How Do We Decide Who—and What—to Vote For?

Elections ask us to make very different kinds of judgments. When choosing a candidate, voters may consider policy positions, character, competence, experience, party, leadership style, or the consequences of giving one party power. Ballot measures pose different challenges: voters may agree with a goal while being uncertain about whether the proposed law is a good way to achieve it.

At this meeting, we’ll talk about how we actually make these decisions—including what we do when the things we value point in different directions. The goal isn't to compare particular candidates or tell anyone how to vote. It is to understand the different standards thoughtful voters use and why those standards make sense to them.

Questions:

1. When evaluating a candidate, what tends to matter most to you? Has that changed over time?

2. How do you weigh a candidate's positions against qualities such as character, judgment, competence, or experience when they point you in different directions?

3. Have you ever seriously considered voting for someone you normally wouldn't? What made you consider it?

4. What makes you trust one source of political information more than another?

5. When considering a ballot measure, how do you think about the difference between agreeing with its goal and believing the particular proposal will accomplish it?

6. What do you do when you don't feel you have enough information to make a confident choice?