Re:Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer
by michaelmior on Monday June 24, 2013 @08:11AM
(#5932366)
Perhaps individually your vote is unlikely to affect any particular outcome. But think about the consequences if every voter adopts this belief.
Re:Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer
by yummyfajitas on Monday June 24, 2013 @10:29AM
(#5933113)
Why do you believe every voter has not already adopted this belief?
Political campaigns certainly behave as if they believe voters already do vote this way. That's why Bush is the regular guy who clears brush from his estate, for example, and why everyone who disagrees with Obama is racist.
Re:Sacrificing everything for my dog. How I became a programmer
by michaelmior on Monday June 24, 2013 @10:38AM
(#5933192)
I am admittedly an idealist. But theoretically speaking, this sort of behaviour seems highly suboptimal.
Why? Your vote doesn't matter. The probability of your vote affecting the outcome is so small it can't be represented with a double precision floating point [1].
So why shouldn't the poor do the same thing everyone else does, namely vote for the guy who makes them feel good?
(Incidentally, the idea that the poor vote R is statistical artifact caused by state level aggregation. http://www.tino.us/2012/11/republicans-may-be-many-things-bu... )
[1] I'm looking at state/federal elections here. Your vote might matter in, e.g., your local school board election.