Which are the most important traits

[NorthSideSox72]

So, you are voting for a house rep and/or Senator soon (I certainly HOPE you are all voting). Which are the most important, second most important and third most important characteristics in your US Senator or House Rep?

[NorthSideSox72]

Once this has been up for a while, I'll devise a point system, and see what it tells us.

 

[lostfan]

1. Policy views

2. Political affiliation (let's be real here. a dyed-in-the-wool liberal is not often going to vote for a conservative and vice versa)

3. Charisma/likability (mostly because all politicians need this for various reasons)

 

Leadership style isn't as important until later in one's career. Resume and background matters, but if I like Candidate A's ideas and he is new on the scene, I'm not voting for Candidate B if I think they are a hack just because they've been around a long time (see Obama vs. McCain).

 

I really don't give a f*** about character and IMO this is what ruins elections for most people. I mean if he is a complete and utter bag of s*** then yes of course. But, you've got Krystal Ball running for Congress in Virginia and someone released some photos of her sucking a dildo that was attached to a guy's nose from when she was in college. First off this is a) pretty god damn awesome but more importantly B) completely irrelevant to how fit she is to be a legislator and c) the reaction it's intended to provoke makes me like the candidate MORE if someone releases a photo of someone smoking a bong in college or whatever. That means they're just a regular person who's done dumb things just like me.

[GoSox05]

No choice for sex appeal? What kind of poll is this.

[Texsox]

Character, Party, Resume

 

Their individual policy views and meaningless until they achieve some sort of leadership position. It's gonna be the party. In the senate I am much more willing to vote GOP because of the nature of the debate than in the House.