As America goes to the polls shortly to complete the most contentious election season in anyone’s lifetime, it is good to reflect on perhaps why people are voting for the candidates that they are. While much has been made of Trump’s failings, with the baffled media wondering how anyone could possibly vote for such a person, the simple fact is that elections are a binary choice and Trump isn’t exactly running against a JFK or Ronald Reagan. Although the press won’t admit it, Trump was probably right when he said that Hillary belongs in prison for corruption. Think about it. Has there EVER been a candidate for President running while also under FBI investigation? So why are people lining up behind ‘their’ candidate? Largely for the same reasons that they always line up behind either the R or the D. So to ask why people will vote Trump or Clinton, you need to ask what makes them vote ‘R’ or vote ‘D’.

With all of the ways that pollsters divide people into certain groups, we have a pretty good idea of who tends to vote which way. For example, single women tend to prefer the ‘D’, while married women tend to prefer the ‘R’. Why? African Americans overwhelmingly prefer the ‘D’ (90%), even when there is no black candidate at the top of ticket. Why? Latinos generally prefer the ‘D’ to the ‘R’ by roughly a 3 to 1 margin. Why? White men generally vote the ‘R’. Why? White folks with a high school education tend to vote ‘R’. While those with higher education tend slightly to vote ‘D’. Why?

The answer to these questions often involves looking beyond simplistically satisfying narratives. For example, some would explain that the overwhelming 90% African American support for Democrats is due to vicious Republican racism. While a certain political party might not be the choice for 9 out of 10 African Americans, it is hard to argue that they are shunning a Party that forced desegregation in the South in at least one case in 1950’s, implemented affirmative action in the civil service, appointed an African American to the Supreme Court, appointed two African American Secretaries of State, was headed less than 4 years ago by an African American, and recently elected the first black Senator in the history of South Carolina, because of racism.

More than likely, the something that causes people to vote the ‘R’ or the ‘D’ is which Party’s platform offers them something or makes sense in the context of how they live their lives. For example, the perennial Republican offering of “tax cuts” makes sense to people who A.) are actually paying federal income tax (Mitt Romney’s infamous 47% comment notwithstanding, nobody said that he was factually incorrect) and/or B.) feel that they aren’t getting their money’s worth in government services. Many of these folks undoubtedly feel that they are in control of their lives, and that things are going reasonably well for themselves AND people who they associate with. I am not saying that these folks are getting rich, but they likely have stable lives and stable jobs.

On the opposite side, you have the Democrats with their perennial offering of “more government programs”. For people who don’t feel in control of their lives, this can offer a comfort. The fact that married women tend to vote ‘R’ while unmarried women tend to vote ‘D’ should come as no surprise. For a married woman, she has a partner there helping (more or less) and so the Democrat offering of more government programs is not going to have as much of an appeal to her (all things being equal) as it likely will to the struggling single mother.  In another case. more government spending is going to appeal to the government worker class (that overwhelmingly votes ‘D’) because they get more money and more job security.

Still another factor that can influence a person’s vote can be cultural conditions. For example, the African American experience with the police has often been an unhappy one, and this has led to a general suspicion of police in many parts of that community. In addition, the lock em’ up and throw away the key law and order policies of the ‘R’ (and the ‘D’ too to some extent, but the ‘R’ is more associated with law and order) probably can feel like an attack on the community itself. On the other side, the fact that many ‘R’’s don’t have run-ins with the law in the same way can likely cause them to be dismissive of complaints against police practices. In other words, the policies championed by the ‘R’s and the ‘D’s make sense in the context of how the ‘R’s and the ‘D’s live their lives.

To continue with cultural factors, the view of guns and gays is going to be influenced by how much interaction ones has with them. If you are living in rural America with limited police presence and a feeling that you have to protect your own home and family because the police are nowhere nearby, you will resist attempts to ban guns because A.) you will see a ban as threatening your personal safety and that of your family, and B.) your likely familiarity with guns is going to mean that you won’t fear them. But if you live in a highly urban, safe neighborhood, with heavy police presence, you might not see the need for a gun and might not understand why anyone would need it (because you won’t know anyone in your social circle who needs one). Consequently, you might be more receptive to a gun ban.

Or take the case of gays. If you have extensive contact with such folks, you are likely to see that they are normal, everyday guys and gals going about their lives the best that they can, just like all of us. But if you don’t have contact with such folks and the picture you get of the “gay lifestyle” is what goes on in gay clubs in San Francisco, you are likely see just a bunch of wierdos who have nothing in common with you and who you certainly wouldn’t want anywhere near your children. Consequently, you are not likely to be sympathetic to gay marriage or any other such issues.

In conclusion, people vote for the ‘R’ or the ‘D’ because the programs offered by these two parties make a lot of sense. They just make a lot of sense in different contexts. How people live their lives, the conditions they operate under, and the situations that they find themselves in are going to determine which program makes sense. It does no good to berate people as stupid or dismiss large minorities of the country as moochers as one candidate for President did a few years back, or as irredeemable and deplorable as another more recent candidate for President did.  Whatever factors drive their vote, the Party that offers a policy program that makes sense in the context of their lives is going to get their support, and the Party that offers a policy program that doesn’t make sense in the context of their lives (or that might make their lives more difficult) is going to earn their opposition. For most people, the corruption of one candidate or the volatility of another candidate simply doesn’t make any difference. They just don’t care.

So if you want to understand why people could possibly vote for Trump or Hillary, understand that they represent the ‘R’ and the ‘D’ (whatever else they may be, including the fact that Trump used to be a Democrat). Which Party’s platform makes sense in the context of an individual’s life will, in the majority of cases, explain why someone will go ahead and vote for Trump or Hillary. And honestly, whether you will admit it to yourself, you are probably choosing your candidate in the same manner as the person voting for the other awful candidate is doing. And if you aren’t, then you almost certainly know someone voting for your candidate who is.