why did so many people make such a bad choice when voting for president?
474213
Good, well informed choices require research and independant thought.  Many Americans have no idea how to do these things.
54690
A lot of people didn't vote for Kerry because if probably felt like they would vote for anyone besides Bush.  Kerry seemed ok
259113
George W. Bush recieved 49% of the vote in 2000, and 51% of the vote in 2004.  Only those over 18 who have never been convicted of a felony are eligible to vote, and most of those who are eligible to vote do not do so.\n\nSo actually probably less than 1/5 (roughly) of Americans actually chose George Bush, and the rest of us are suffering for their mistake.\n\nConsider too that as bad as he is for the world, he's even worse for those of us who live here.  Nevertheless, I freely apologise on behalf of the decent Americans who are disgusted by the actions of our "leaders". :-(
36192
Basically because the people he was running against were dumber than he was.\nThe general public recognized that, and voted for the lesser of two evils.
334648
No, because we're too stupid.  People like to vote for charming, charasmatic people.  But those are the type that are dishonest, because if you are honest and upfront people are disappoined in what they hear.  So, they go for the people that lie to them and tell them what they really want to hear.  So, we bring this evil on ourselves.
844787
Actually, there have been cases in which people have been threatened for voting a certain way. It wasn't at an exit poll, but the FBI's currently investigating cases in Virginia in which people got phone calls threatening them if they voted a certain way. Many people feel that who they voted for is a personal matter. Perhaps they feel this way out of a fear for being judged by other people who do not agree with their beliefs. I also personally know some people who don't take exit polls because they are not all that accurate anyway. Like in 2004, when they were predicting that John Kerry would win the Presidential election.
22007
for the same reason 35% of the people in the us voted for bush, they are idiots who dont think ahead more than about an hour, and will do anything that they think will save them 20 cents. Many people dont do this actually, but the ones that do use up a disproportionate amount of resources.
812766
I must have missed the war vote on my ballot. People voted for change because they were not very happy with Mr. Bush's and his congress's policies. The war was the main policy people were voting against, there were many others. His spending for one. Corruption was another, four republican congressmen resigned in less than a year. The shadow of Jack Abramoff was everywhere. Gasoline hitting three bucks. Illegal immigration into our country. His dismissal of the constitution. Torture, and on and on. There were many reasons, the war was the big one.
738194
You always have a higher number of people voting for someone just because they are "their group" whether it is more Texans voting for Bush or more women voting for Hillary. Will & Grace had a funny episode where Grace was supporting a candidate she knew nothing about just because the candidate was a female Jew & Will was supporting a candidate he knew nothing about just because the candidate was a gay. Turned out both candidates were awful embarrissments.
1037471
It sux we only get two choices.....Why cant we have more?  People just vote the lesser of two evils....No one is really ever happy with the choices.  We vote holding our noses.....
1006672
Several factors: 1) voting machines were rigged .  In one precinct alone where there were 1800 registered voters over 4,000 votes were cast for Bush.  This precincts voting took place in a church.  The Secretary of State of Ohio where this took place owns major stock in the company that manufactures the voting machines used, Diebold.  His reward, he is now running as the rethuglican party's candidate for governor.   2) The homophobic religious right was gung ho to ban abortion and gay marriage and turned out in record numbers.    3) A lot of people do not like to change Presidents during a war.  This happened when FDR was President and he was elected to serve an unprecedented 3 terms.
949775
Your question is out of date. It's really the president that people don't like and the fact that so many voted against him has already helped dissipate anti-Americanism among most people I know
48791
Because they are lazy, and don't think it matters.\n\nFor all those out there who think so, here's a quote(I haven't a clue who by)\n\n"Bad men are elected by good people who don't vote".\n\nIf you didn't vote, don't grouse if you don't like who your neighbor picked.
150821
the founding fathers designed this system because they thought that at the time the population was to uneducated to make such critical decisions as choosing the president. in fact the public couldn't choose senators either--they were chosen by the state legislatures. in any event the electoral college is a system that gives one vote per senator/representative that a state has. the electors are mainly chosen by the party that carried the state and when casting the ballots for the candidate that won the state the elector actually has no obligation to use his vote on that candidate other than the knowledge that should he vote for anyone else he would be committing political suicide
747402
MAYBE BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE!\n\nWell it is high time they begin to consider other choices.\n\nI hate throwing away my vote on independents because they seldom have a snowballs chance in hell of winning but this year I did just hoping a bunch of other people did the same to give some credibility to the independents. We need to shake up the two party system and get some good blood in office.\n\nLONG LIVE THE INDEPENDENTS.  \nOUT WITH THE BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS...........
1044569
I vote. However, I can understand why people wouldn't vote. Our elected officials are sold to us, plain and simple. Those who have enough money for advertising put themselves on tv between our favorite programs and we pick one. And its usually a which candidate do you dislike the most scenario. But I don't think its a good idea to encourage people to vote for the sake of voting. People should be encouraged to make an informed decision when voting. They should actually get to know the candidates platforms before they vote. If they are gonna vote for a guy because he's the kind of guy they'd like to have a beer with or if they are gonna not vote for a guy because they don't like how exited he sounded at his rally, then I would rather them not show up. It's like we all have to vote on what car we would drive and some of us are making a decision based on fuel economy and safety and some of us who had equal say based their decision on the song playing in the commercial.
126594
Because a lot of people allow personal issues such as gay marriage and fear determine who they vote for, no matter how incompetent the administration is in matters of state.