[quote]Since I wouldn't even waste my spit on a liberal and think they are the cancer of the world[/quote]This seems like a measured, reasonable position to hold... [spoiler]not.[/spoiler]

What you said made no sense. If he's not running on the Republican ticket, he's not one of the two that has a chance to win.

[quote]What you said made no sense. If he's not running on the Republican ticket, he's not one of the two that has a chance to win.[/quote] Lol You're all trolls. The only candidates with a chance of winning are Trump and Hillary. That being said, I voted for Trump. The fact that Trump is a Republican isn't the reason I voted for him. The reason I voted for him and against Hillary is because Trump leans more toward the right, while Hillary leans more toward the left.

[quote]I'll always vote against whoever leans toward the left. That being said, and since only one of two candidates will win this election[/quote] If Trump were independent, he wouldn't be one of the two candidates with a chance of winning. By this logic, you should vote for the Republican nominee.

[quote][quote]I'll always vote against whoever leans toward the left. That being said, and since only one of two candidates will win this election[/quote] If Trump were independent, he wouldn't be one of the two candidates with a chance of winning. By this logic, you should vote for the Republican nominee.[/quote] Not because it's the Republican candidate, though. Since we're dealing with 'what ifs' here, let's say Hillary was a conservative and Trump was a moderate or a liberal, and that's all that I knew about them besides their party affiliation. In that case, I would be voting for Hillary. The point being, party affiliation doesn't matter to me. As an independent conservative, my reasonings for voting for or against a particular candidate has to do with the candidate's stances on the issues and not their party affiliation.

But the person on the Republican ticket is the only one who has a chance of defeating Hillary.

[quote]But the person on the Republican ticket is the only one who has a chance of defeating Hillary.[/quote] Sure, but being an independent conservative voter does not mean that you will not vote for a candidate just because they are either a Republican or a Democrat. The party affiliation is not the determining factor.

Your original post indicated that you would vote for the most conservative candidate that actually had a chance of winning. If Trump's an independent, he has no chance of winning. The only candidate other than Hillary with a chance of winning would be the Republican nominee. What don't you understand about this?

[quote]Your original post indicated that you would vote for the most conservative candidate that actually had a chance of winning. If Trump's an independent, he has no chance of winning. The only candidate other than Hillary with a chance of winning would be the Republican nominee. What don't you understand about this?[/quote] A vote for someone that has no chance of winning is a wasted vote, which means I will not vote for someone that has no chance of winning. Out of the two that do have a chance of winning, I do not give a damn which political party they are affiliated with; therefore, their political affiliation will have no bearing on my decision regarding who to vote for. I will do some research to see where each candidate stands on the issues and so on. From there, I will be able to determine who I appear to align with most and who I appear to be opposed to. Being a conservative, this means that I will favor the more conservative of the two and that I will be opposed to the more liberal of the two. If the decision is between a moderate and a liberal, then the decision will be to vote for the moderate and against the liberal. If the decision is between a conservative and a liberal, then I will vote for the conservative and against the liberal. Don't know how much clearer this can be. What I know you're trying to push is that if Trump was an Independent, then he would not have a chance of winning, therefore I would not vote for him, which is stupid because #1. This is a what if scenario. One could just as easily say, "durrr what if Trump was running as an Independent and it was just down to him and Hillary - would ya' still vote for him then, even though he's not a Republican?" Sure, I would, because he leans more toward the right, while Hillary leans more toward the left. The points I'm making is that I'm not assuming anything at all with a what if scenario, and that the loyalty isn't to a person or a particular party. What would be the point of asking if people would still vote for a candidate even if they had zero chance of winning, if not to verify whether their loyalty does or does not reside with that candidate? In such a case, I make the the point that loyalty does not reside with the candidate. What would be the point of asking if people would still vote for a candidate if they were affiliated with another party, if not to verify whether or not their loyalty resides with a particular party? In such a case, I make the point that loyalty does not reside with the political party.

I can't believe you're not getting this. If Trump were independent, he would have no chance of winning, because not everyone thinks like you and most conservatives would still choose the Republican nominee. If Trump were running as an independent and you voted for him, it would be, in your own words, a wasted vote. You should logically vote for the Republican nominee, not because of party affiliations, but because he would be the only one with a chance of defeating Hillary.

[quote]I'm an independent conservative, so I'll always vote for whoever leans more toward the right or whoever's more conservative. Since I wouldn't even waste my spit on a liberal and think they are the cancer of the world, I'll always vote against whoever leans toward the left or is running as a Democrat.[/quote] Nothing very independent about permanently aligning yourself with whoever is the conservative candidate, regardless of any other factor than their being a conservative. In fact that's pretty much the opposite of independence.

Negative. Republican does not always equal conservative. Even in the primaries, some candidates were criticized by conservatives as being too moderate. Many who claim to be independent conservatives these days do so to distance themselves from the establishment that they feel no longer represents their values and viewpoints. If, for example, an election was between a liberal Democrat and an Independent conservative, I would of course be voting for the Independent conservative and against the Democrat. The difference is that I do not vote along party lines simply due to party affiliation; I vote for the more conservative candidate and against the more left-leaning candidate whether that means I am voting for a Republican or not.

I didn't mention anything about Republicans, red my post again.

[quote]I didn't mention anything about Republicans, red my post again.[/quote] An Independent conservative is a conservative that's not affiliated with any political party. This means, not a Republican and not a Democrat, etc., which is why it was mentioned. If your argument is that always voting for the more conservative candidate means you don't vote outside the box as far as that goes, then my question is why in the heck would I vote for someone for any other reason than because, after doing some research, their values, their positions, and where they stand on the issues appear to align with my own values and viewpoints? I mean, seriously, there is literally no better reason to vote for a candidate than that.

You said yourself that you would vote for the most conservative candidate, regardless of anything else. If you don't have a red line for where conservatism goes too far, you can't be analysing anything that much.

Everyone has - or at least, should have - a red line where they feel certain views go too far. This is, however, often a matter of perspective for the most part, because not everyone agrees on what is or isn't too far. Nevertheless, liberals do not generally share the views of left-wing extremist just like conservatives do not generally share the views of right-wing extremists. To give an example, I would never vote for a candidate with over-the-top, extremist views, but let's say the choice was between a moderate candidate and a more conservative candidate. I would then vote for the one who is more conservative. There is a difference between saying I would vote for the candidate that is "more conservative" in a comparative sense and saying that I would always vote for the candidate who is the "most right-wing."

Well I think you're fiddling with semantics there. An extreme right-winger will always be comparatively 'more conservative' than a centre-right candidate, for example. If you want to align yourself as a strong conservative that's fine, but if you're not going to vote for extremism then don't say you'll 'always' vote for the more conservative candidates.