Casual Questions Thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/1712iuh/casual_questions_thread/

created by The_Egalitarian on 06/10/2023 at 03:54 UTC

29 upvotes, 164 top-level comments (showing 25)

This is a place for the PoliticalDiscussion community to ask questions that may not deserve their own post.

Please observe the following rules:

1. **Must be a question asked in good faith.** Do not ask loaded[1] or rhetorical questions[2].

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_question

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question

2. **Must be directly related to politics.**

Non-politics content includes: Legal interpretation, sociology, philosophy, celebrities, news, surveys, etc.

3. **Avoid highly speculative questions.** All scenarios should within the realm of reasonable possibility.

Link to old thread

Sort by new and please keep it clean in here!

Comments

Comment by AutoModerator at 06/10/2023 at 03:54 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

A reminder for everyone[1]. This is a subreddit for genuine discussion:

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/4479er/rules_explanations_and_reminders/

Violators will be fed to the bear.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2: /message/compose/?to=/r/PoliticalDiscussion

Comment by GiantPineapple at 10/11/2023 at 03:07 UTC

6 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Why did House Republicans send a dirty Israel aid bill to the Senate? It seems to me that a clean bill would have been very uncomfortable for the Ds, since their coalition is a bit split on the question. Now the Ds can easily roll their eyes, bobble the football, and even criticize the Rs for not taking FP seriously, until the shutdown drowns everything else out in a week.

Am I missing something?

Comment by bleahdeebleah at 23/10/2023 at 23:31 UTC

6 upvotes, 2 direct replies

What happens if Biden wins a second term and a Republican House just flat out refuses to certify the results?

Comment by LeMoineSpectre at 16/11/2023 at 16:01 UTC

5 upvotes, 4 direct replies

Since the presidential election is not till next November, is it too early to be worrying about what the polls are saying about Biden's approval rating and whether or not he can win a second time?

Comment by LorenzoApophis at 25/11/2023 at 01:25 UTC*

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Between Trump, Boris Johnson, Geert Wilders and Javier Milei, is there something about unconventional (and imo rather unsightly) hairstyles that has a particular appeal to conservatives?

Comment by LeMoineSpectre at 13/12/2023 at 08:30 UTC

6 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Question about all the Muslims who are refusing to vote for Biden due to his stances on the Israel/Palestine war:

Are they really powerful and numerous enough to cost him the election?

And what is their reasoning? Don't they understand how much worse it will be for them- and their people- if Trump wins again (bad for all of us, really)? Or do they just not care at this point? I don't understand it

Comment by Rougarou1999 at 27/01/2024 at 05:59 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Say immediately before a major election (within a few days or less), a State’s Secretary of State purged the voter rolls of anyone under the age of 25 or anyone registered with the opposing party. Alternatively, a State Legislature introduce a bill banning the same groups from voting. While these are unconstitutional and would be overturned relatively quickly, this could keep thousands or millions from voting on Election Day. What would stop a state government from doing this, or is this something that is impossible for them to do?

Comment by Entreric at 05/03/2024 at 23:12 UTC

5 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Have an honest question, I find Biden to be an extremely moderate for a democratic candidate and on a political compass he's barely different from Trump. However my inlaws and many people on the conservative Reddit find him to be super woke, progressive and basically the devil.

However most on liberal leanings denounce him for being too conservative.

Where is the disconnect? Just fake news?

Comment by jonasnew at 27/11/2023 at 12:36 UTC

4 upvotes, 3 direct replies

My question for today relates to the major battleground states in the 2024 election. We can all agree that the six major battleground states for the 2024 election are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. My question is, do you believe that Trump could sweep all six of those states?

Comment by EdLesliesBarber at 09/01/2024 at 23:01 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Can we bring back the polling megathread? They’re really heating up already.

Comment by morrison4371 at 22/01/2024 at 01:31 UTC

4 upvotes, 2 direct replies

When will Williamson and Phillips drop out? They have no chance of winning, so when do you think they will pull the plug?

Comment by Old-Expert6923 at 25/02/2024 at 11:13 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

As a northern european, i'm more interested in the current american election, than i think i've ever been in my life. I'm legit afraid what could happen in my back yard if the next US president should make the decision to back out of NATO and leave us to defend against eastern agressors by ourselves.

My question is: Do everyone vote at a primary election? And what i mean specifically is, say if you're a democrat, and decide that you want to try to interrupt Trumps presedential campaign, would you then vote for Nikki Haley? Or how does it work, have i got it all wrong? I've seen a lot of television but haven't found an answer for this specific question. Thanks!

Comment by [deleted] at 08/11/2023 at 01:34 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Not a single pinned post for tonight's elections?

Comment by [deleted] at 26/02/2024 at 09:23 UTC

7 upvotes, 3 direct replies

[removed]

Comment by Jack_Q_Frost_Jr at 06/10/2023 at 04:19 UTC

3 upvotes, 5 direct replies

Does anyone have any actual insight into why Trump keeps telling a story about needing ID to buy bread?

Comment by morrison4371 at 06/10/2023 at 15:53 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Do you think RFK's right wing donors will pressure him to drop out? They have to know that he most likely takes from Trump voters. The donors also probably know that No Labels also leans to the right. Do you think that they will try to fund West as the best option to take from Biden?

Comment by [deleted] at 11/10/2023 at 13:13 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by nyx1969 at 24/10/2023 at 15:32 UTC

3 upvotes, 2 direct replies

does anyone else think it's puzzling that Obama's statement about what is happening in Gaza has received so little attention? I am not normally a conspiracy minded person but I was truly shocked when I heard about his statement last night, but then could not find discussions about it. His statement does not appear in my google news feed, no one in my facebook circle mentioned it, and it's not on the front page here on reddit. Is this really because ordinary people no longer care what he thinks, or do you think that there are decisions being made by institutions somewhere to deliberately lower the visibility of his remarks? I honestly have no idea, but I am wondering if anyone here has seen his remarks and been similarly surprised. also, maybe I do not have normal social media / newswatching habits and so I just coincidentally am having unusual experiences? in case you don't know what I'm talking about, here is an article on his remarks: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/24/obama-israel-food-water-gaza

Comment by Scorpion1386 at 28/10/2023 at 01:23 UTC

3 upvotes, 5 direct replies

Do most people believe that Joe Biden's stance and actions in the Israel/Hamas conflict will result in a 2024 election loss against Donald Trump?

Comment by sebsasour at 06/11/2023 at 22:35 UTC

3 upvotes, 2 direct replies

I'm not gonna start a thread with this so I'll just ask it here (I'm sure this gets asked frequently). I'm coming at this from the perspective of a Democratic voter who will be voting for Biden next year.

How does he fix his perception issue on the economy?

If you get into actual economic numbers, Joe Biden arguably has a very strong case to make that he's done well with the economy, but that's is not striking a chord with voters.

That NYT Battlegrounds poll just came out, and I understand it's easy to scoff at a poll 12 months out, but it does appear Biden is genuinely losing ground with young voters and minorities largely due to a perception that he's been terrible for the economy (even if that's not actually true).

Which make sense, if someone is picturing 2019 they're going to think about how their rent was $400 cheaper, they were spending $40 less every time they went grocery shopping, $10 less every time they filled up their tank, and their favorite fast food combo that used to cost $8 might now cost $11.

Obviously those issues go well beyond a President, but it does seem most American's are gonna "feel" they were better off during The Trump years than they are now.

Is the hope just that Trump rearing his ugly head into the arena again will scare those voters back to Biden? Is the only hope just an effective negative campaign against an unpopular opponent?

Or is there any chance Joe Biden can actually win over left leaning voters who are ambivalent or displeased with him?

Comment by MakeUpAnything at 21/12/2023 at 19:46 UTC

3 upvotes, 6 direct replies

This may be a bit of a long winded question, but it's something I've had on my mind with Colorado's Supreme Court removing Trump from its ballot:

I ask this because Trump has very clear anti-democratic tendencies. He's promised vengeance against opponents, he promises mass deportations with questionable conditions for those awaiting deportation, he has celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade which has led to multiple high profile cases of women being denied abortions, he promised to be a dictator on his first day, he has promised a return of fairly disliked policies such as stop and frisk, he's expressed interest in withdrawing from NATO while he's cozied up to dictators like Kim Jung Un and Putin, he has called those who disagree with him vermin who need to be rooted out, and he's said immigrants are "poisoning our country's blood".

I say all that before even mentioning his part in the January 6th 2020 riot and how he waited for hours to put in any effort to stop it, going so far as to tell those who were begging him to that the rioters were more angry than Kevin McCarthy was.

I say all that not to insult Trump, but to simply point out that he has some very fascist qualities and by his own admission wants to at least start his next term as a dictator. Despite America being a representative democracy with citizens that allegedly wants to stay a democracy, Trump is winning in the general election polls and some states are looking for ways to stop his seemingly inevitable rise back into power.

Should states be able to stop him?

On the one hand, America is at its core attempting to be a democracy. A great beacon on the hill where the will of the people created a government by the people for the people. We are not supposed to acquiesce to dictators and in fact our constitution put in multiple safeguards against cult of personality folks. It's why we have so many veto points and there are abilities to overrule tyrants with measures such as the 2/3 majority veto override in government. One would think our government should be able to stop the rise of folks who are using hatred and anger to propel themselves into power so they can use that power to unilaterally shape the nation as they see fit (which I'd argue the GOP is trying to do with Trump and Project 2025).

On the other hand Trump is the choice to run the US of the majority of people in the US at least as of my writing this. He is consistently beating Biden in most general election polls, be them battleground state polls, or nationwide polls. Clearly (at least as of now) America's citizens *want* Trump's more iron-fisted rule than Biden's slower, more gentle approach. Stripping the majority of Americans of their choice is itself anti-democratic, even if it's allegedly done to save democracy.

I'm not sure what the better option here is. If we were Germany, should we stop the rise of Hitler even if most of our citizens think he's the best choice to rule the nation? Which is better? Stripping half the citizens of their right to pick who they want to rule them, or forcing the other half to endure the potentially brutal authoritarian regime promised by said pick for leader? It feels like the only real outcome here is war as either side will feel an incredible level of oppression if they lose.

Comment by xr_21 at 24/12/2023 at 22:47 UTC

3 upvotes, 4 direct replies

What could have Biden done during his first term so that he'd be "above water" in polls?

Comment by Pure-Huckleberry8640 at 31/12/2023 at 14:38 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Why Did The UK give control of Hong Kong back to Mainland China? Simple question. It was very controversial when Hong Kong was back in the hands of the CCP and, from what I understand, the majority of the citizens in Hong Kong did not like this change. They were given autonomy from the CCP as China has been criticized for being overly restrictive with its citizens. If this is true, why would the UK give Hong Kong back? Did China put pressure on it or the EU?

Comment by Scorpion1386 at 04/01/2024 at 13:39 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Has a President in U.S. history with low approval ratings similar to Joe Biden��s at this time during election year ever won re-election?

Comment by ToeNailMaster at 18/01/2024 at 12:39 UTC

3 upvotes, 3 direct replies

I just watched a video of Vivek criticizing a journalist for asking him to condemn white supremacy. He states that he condemns racial discrimination and refuses to play their gotcha moment. I am confused as to why he couldn't have said I condemn white supremacy as well as other forms of discrimination. Can someone please tell me why?

(link to the video0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfFu64Afyoc[1][2]

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfFu64Afyoc

2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfFu64Afyoc