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Comment by mtgx | Hacker News Reader

Yet most Americans have no problem supporting either an asshole billionaire or someone who thinks it's "their turn to be president" and is supported by Wall Street billionaires (the same people responsible for the 2008 economic crash).

Most people don't seem to know what's good for them.

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Clinton is supported by about 50% of Democrats. Trump is supported by about 25% of Republicans. That doesn't add up to anywhere close to "most Americans."

Perhaps. But chances are that these two will become their parties' candidates and then most Americans _will_ have to choose between them.

The US has so many smart, hard working people, we deserve better.

I really, really doubt that we'll be forced to choose between Clinton and Trump. Clinton, yes, but the Republicans aren't that insane.

In any case, saying that a broken system forces us to choose the lesser of two evils is quite different from saying that most Americans support one of these two candidates.

> yes, but the Republicans aren't that insane.

I wouldn't put it past them to choose Trump, but either way, the other leading contenders like Ben Carson or Ted Cruz are even more whacked-out. And god forbid the Bush dynasty would continue...

Of the Republican candidates, the only ones I find less crazy than Trump -- and to be clear, I more or less despise everyone I'm about to list -- are Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, and perhaps Marco Rubio. Fiorina and Rubio because, maybe, they don't actually believe some of the panderous garbage that they say, and Paul because he occasionally expresses some anti-war sentiment (even if it's motivated by his desire to decrease federal spending).

I totally understood the difference, I was trying to say that it doesn't really matter. We need to fix the broken system, but I am not aware of any candidates having any workable ideas...

It matters in terms of what conclusions you can draw about the American people (the original comment up there was attempting to use widespread support for these candidates as evidence that Americans don't know what's good for them), and in terms of what's required to fix the problem. I agree that as far as the outcome goes it doesn't matter much.

People in the lower income bracket don't go to the polls in the same rate as the higher income bracket.

Upps forgot the source: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/income-gap-at...

There should be a national "voting day" holiday. Not having one is the equivalent of a poll tax for hourly wage workers.

In my area, polls are open from 9 AM (or maybe earlier - I'm not a morning person) to 9 PM. No matter what your shift, you should be able to find a time to get there without having to take off work.

or have it on a saturday like lots of countries do

People work on Saturday, too. Less, it's true, but still enough that you can't disenfranchise them.

Having one is the equivalent of a poll tax for the self-employed!

The self employed don't have to negotiate with anyone (from a disadvantaged position) to take a small time away from work.

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