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Vote Now in New DFP Poll: How Will You Vote in the Presidential Election?

A Washington Post/Survey Monkey poll finds Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each holding twenty states with leads of four points or greater. Alas for Republicans, Clinton’s strong twenty states add up to 244 electoral votes, while Trump’s hold 126. If Clinton can hold the narrow lead this poll gives her in either Florida or Texas, or if she can pair Wisconsin and Michigan or Ohio and Colorado in her Win column, she wins the Presidency.

Alas, in South Dakota, WP/SM find Trump leading Clinton 51–37 head to head and 43–29 when the ballot includes Gary Johnson (who gets 19% of the vote, behind only his 25% showing in New Mexico and 23% in Utah and tied with Idaho and Alaska—which may be why we’re hearing Johnson/Weld ads on the radio in Aberdeen and Madison).

So let’s see if we can replicate those figures here! This week’s Dakota Free Press poll asks the big Presidential question: “How will you vote in the Presidential election?” Your options (the four candidates will appear in the following order on our official ballot; the seven options will appear in random order in the near-right sidebar):

  • Donald Trump
  • Gary Johnson
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Darrell Castle
  • write-in (writing in a name cancels your vote on that section of the South Dakota ballot but does not spoil the rest of your ballot)
  • leave the Presidential line blank (but still vote on other candidates and ballot questions)
  • not voting at all

I’ll keep this poll open until Wednesday at breakfast time, at which point we’ll discuss the results.

Vote now, tell your friends, and tell us why you’re voting the way you are here in the comment section!

56 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2016-09-12 07:54

    I’m all in for Hillary, mainly because Trump is a fascist, a narcissist and a con main. He doesn’t know Thing One about anything other than Donald Trump. He could really care less about the common person. He hates America, because he abhors our values. He will tear America apart. Other than that, he’s the greatest man that ever lived, except Jesus, of course.

    Trump’s “basket of deplorables,” who follow him like the Germans followed Hitler, will think they can turn from the weakling racists they are into bullies or worse. We are in for a long violent spell if these folks think they have any power. They are too much like the Nazis, for my taste, which is why we need to vote against Trump, if not for Hillary.

  2. Richard Shelatz 2016-09-12 08:43

    Gary Johnson

  3. mike from iowa 2016-09-12 08:48

    Unfortunately, Donald Pay-these deplorables will be around after the election-win or lose. Drumpf has opened an infernal can of deplorable worms and the genie won’t go back into the bottle.

    How the hell does Drumpf manage to lead in any state? He is the exact opposite of what this country used to stand for. We will all need grief counselors if Drumpf doesn’t get buried in the election.

  4. Lynn Ryan 2016-09-12 09:00

    Hillary

  5. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-09-12 09:30

    Donald Pay, it is exactly that complete self-absorption, that complete lack of concern for anyone else’s interests, that makes Trump such a deplorable choice for public office.

    Mike, I do wonder how a man so clearly selfish and unqualified can lead in any state. Such are the errors a democracy is capable of. As Mr. Pay reminds us, Hitler won votes, too. Demagogues and dictators can fool some of the people some of the time. That’s why it’s important that all of the people get out and vote every time.

  6. Dicta 2016-09-12 09:43

    Clinton. We really got hamfisted on Godwin’s law though, huh?

  7. Charlene Lund 2016-09-12 09:51

    Ditto Don Pay regarding Trump – but Hillary is the only person totally qualified to be President – she is experienced in all manners of local state and federal govt. She understands foreign policy and she knows how to get things done and who to call on to get things done. While people complain about her friendships with business, she has a wide network of people she knows well and will ask these people to step up to resolved whatever issue. Hillary gives us hope.

  8. Rorschach 2016-09-12 10:00

    I will vote for the lizard, not the wizard.

  9. kingleon 2016-09-12 10:44

    I voted Clinton in 2000, and I’ll vote for her again in 2016.

  10. bearcreekbat 2016-09-12 12:54

    I agree with Charlene’s analysis!

  11. mikeyc, that's me! 2016-09-12 13:39

    I don’t vote FOR anybody.
    But I do vote AGAINST a bunch of SOB’s.

  12. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-09-12 14:40

    Dicta, if a Nazi reference is inevitable, we might as well get it out of the way early. And remember, everyone: Godwin says that Nazi references in online discussions are likely, but not inherently inaccurate.

    Ham-fisted? If it were Trump making the reference, would it be Cornish hen-fisted?

  13. Jemilroy 2016-09-12 14:46

    H’s qualifications are close to the same level as Gore and Kerry, Mcain. Intellectually on a par with Obama, Clinton, Carter. Johnson’s on the level of W..Trumps on the level of some insane deplorable fat ugly dirty old man (did I mention the fat ugly part?).
    H is not a vote of the lesser evil..that argument has never rung true. It’s an excuse for ignorance and weakness. She’s the most qualified and suitable person to become our next President. Period. SD has become a vast wasteland with one party rule.
    Did I mention that Trump is really fat and really ugly …for a man.

  14. Dicta 2016-09-12 15:30

    1) Accurate or not, I never like the comparison because the genocide of 6 million people just feels wrong to use as a rhetorical device. I get it; I just don’t like it.
    2) Sorry, we were looking for bantam fisted because it works for both rooster and small, which is apropos for Donny boy’s hands.

  15. Donald Pay 2016-09-12 15:58

    Hitler and his racist supporters didn’t start off killing people. They started off demonizing groups of people based on ethnic background. Sound familiar? When they came to power, they spent money and effort on creating structural barriers ( like walls) as well as cultural barriers between people. They made the Jews and others pay for these structures through stealing their property. Any of this sounding a tad like Trump? Don’t lecture about Godwin’s law. It’s been nullified by Trump and his supporters.

  16. Dicta 2016-09-12 16:06

    Are you honestly saying that you are concerned Trump and his ilk will commit genocide if he comes to power? I want to see you write that is an honest concern you have.

  17. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-09-12 16:20

    Perhaps I can defuse your discomfort with the comparison this way: We don’t have to extend the harms scenario to say that electing Donald Trump means six million Jews will die. We simply can observe that if a radical as evil as Hitler can get enough people to vote for him that he can take over a government by legitimate constitutional processes and wreak great harm, it is similarly possible for a tinpot dictator like Trump to trick otherwise decent people into handing him the reins of power.

    Or we can downgrade the comparison from Hitler to Mussolini. Does that help?

  18. Dicta 2016-09-12 16:26

    Perhaps you could just let analogies lay and focus on the mountains of ridiculous garbage that flows like a river from his mouth.

  19. Tim 2016-09-12 16:43

    If elected, once he starts lobbing nukes at anybody that pisses him off, none of the rest of this matters. Or maybe he will just turn us all over to Putin, just rename us Russia west, imagine what Putin could do with our military.

    My vote was going to Bernie, I now fully support HRC.

  20. Donald Pay 2016-09-12 16:46

    Dicta,

    As I said, Hitler and the Nazis didn’t start off with genocide on their minds. They started off demonizing groups of people, kind of like Trump and the Mexicans and the Muslims. They were “Deutchland firsters, and sought reasons why Germany wasn’t prospering. They singled out groups of people who they mistakenly thought were inferior and claimed they were part of the problem for why Germany wasn’t at the top of the heap. They moved them around, first to ghettos, then deported them to other countries, where they had set up “concentration camps,” ie., camps to take the concentrated population of European Jews. At first they were forced labor camps, where people worked for under minimum wage. It turned into the worst kind of slavery, where folks were worked so hard they starved to death. Then, much later, it turned into ovens and mass graves.

    I think it is wise to never get to the first rung on the descent to fascism. Yes, I think Trump and his followers are more than capable of genocide, if conditions are right. These folks are absolutely dangerous, and we had better take it seriously.

  21. leslie 2016-09-12 17:23

    do you celebrate the renaming of Harney Peak, Dia? trump is certainly a Grant maybe, or a Harney. not nearly as smart though. or a daugaard, one could argue. dangerous. ignorant. genocide of 6 million in 1945 vs. 25,000 in Dakota Terr. in 1865. what’s the difference?

    WE LOVE OUR BLACK HILLS (C) Custer Mueseum today on Mid Day, SDPR. right, Ditca?

  22. Donald Pay 2016-09-12 17:29

    Let’s not pooh-pooh how easily genocide can happen. America committed genocide once before (against the tribes of people who were here first). Genocide is as American as apple pie. Hitler was more efficient in his killing. That’s about the only difference.

  23. Dicta 2016-09-12 19:01

    Once again, Leslie pursues a non sequitur down a rabbit hole via ridiculous word salad. I am fine with the renaming of Harney Peak.

  24. Bill Reynolds 2016-09-12 20:09

    Secretary Clinton. Natch.

  25. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-09-12 20:12

    Pay makes a valid point. Trump scapegoats minorities; plays to fear, nationalism, and machismo; delegitimizes the press; and praises strongman personas and cultivates one himself. His rhetoric is very much “will to power.” We don’t know what the top of President Trump’s ladder would look like, but his first rung (Donald! Useful image!) looks a lot like Hitler’s and Mussolini’s first rungs. To ignore the obvious similarities would be morally and logically irresponsible.

  26. Jason Sebern 2016-09-12 20:48

    Stein is not on the SD ballot? I will not for anyone on the top of the ticket this year. I am done supporting neoliberal Democrats.

  27. o 2016-09-12 20:49

    Jemilroy, I completely agree. The whole “lesser of two evil” media narrative is nothing more than a ruse to open the door for excuses for voting for Trump. Setting aside the true qualifications of a life-long dedicated public servant like clinton is the ONLY way to begin consideration of a wildly underprepared candidate like Trump.

  28. Anne Weyer 2016-09-12 21:17

    I was a Bernie Sanders supporter and truely believe in empowering third parties and Independent candidates. I have nothing to lose by voting for Gary Johnson and due to SD’s super reatrictive timeline, we were unsucessful in getting Jill Stein on the ballot, otherwise, she would get my vote. Those in swing states should suck it up and check the Clinton box.

  29. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-09-12 21:40

    Anne, how close would the race have to be (or what other factors would have to arise) to make it appear that you would have something to lose by voting for Johnson and incline you to “suck it up” and check Clinton? Or, in the other direction, what conditions could arise that would make you reverse your advice to swing state voters and tell them to join you in voting for Johnson?

  30. Amy Harmon 2016-09-13 04:21

    Jill Stein #VoteValuesNotFears #ShesWithUs

  31. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-09-13 06:23

    Remember, you can write Jill Stein in on your SD ballot, but the county auditor will then not count your Presidential vote. Writing in a candidate on one line does not spoil your entire ballot: your votes for House, Senate, Legislature, PUC, local offices, and ballot questions will still count, as long as you don’t write outside the bubbles on those lines.

  32. Jemilroy 2016-09-13 07:22

    Johnson, Stein…Been there (John Anderson, Barry Commoner, Ralph Nader). Voting your convictions doesn’t mean you can only find the altruistic candidate..that’s simply sophomoric and displays a lack of any political acumen let alone social responsibility. Selfish. Why not just vote for yourself. Remember that SNL Skit with Telley Savales? “The Players with Yourself Card”. (waaay back eh?) As devout McGovern liberals..we vote for people who help others..not ourselves. And yes..

  33. Jemilroy 2016-09-13 07:28

    And yes..Trump has already promoted genocide policies. He is running a blatantly violent anti-msulim, anti Mexican campaign. Once he controls the military and FBI watch out.

  34. o 2016-09-13 08:13

    On the topic of Trump and genocide, I would remind all that candidate Trump has spoken of the need to target the families of terrorists to fight terrorism. It is clear that he is willing to go past enemy combatants; where is his line not to cross in engaging the enemy then?

  35. Jemilroy 2016-09-13 09:05

    Excerpt below..could we have Hillary say this about those NRA gun huggin’ Evangelicals? You know,.the ones who foster domestic terrorism. The Deplorables. Trump is what we used to refer to as a “duche bag” back in the 80’s (yet another classic SNL skit ta boot). A duche bag of deplorables. Thank you.

    Trump also condemned President Obama for not following the Nazi practice of monitoring the nation’s Islamic worship centers and Muslim communities. He said, “Why is President Obama so empathetic on not solving the problem? There’s something going on in the mosques and other places. There’s some nastiness, there’s some meanness there.” It is noteworthy that Trump received wild applause in calling for citizen-spies and one wonders how long before he calls for violent intervention instead of just spying and reporting; he did say “You’re pretty smart, right? We know there’s something going on.”

  36. Jenny 2016-09-13 09:13

    Why isn’t Jill Stein on the SD ballot?
    I was thinking Hillary would win in a landslide. I still think she is going to win, but calling Trump’s supporters deplorable has brought the race a lot closer than the HRC team could ever have imagined. Trump is going to take that to town and then some.

  37. Gracie 2016-09-13 09:15

    Hillary

  38. Jenny 2016-09-13 09:15

    Okay, I see, not enough votes for Stein. Sorry.

  39. Jenny 2016-09-13 09:21

    Jemilroy, this presidential election will be one of the lowest turnouts ever. I really don’t blame people for staying home this time.

  40. Donald Pay 2016-09-13 10:01

    Jenny writes: “… calling Trump’s supporters deplorable has brought the race a lot closer than the HRC team could ever have imagined.”

    I don’t think so. There are many Republicans in Wisconsin who think exactly the same thing. Charlie Sykes, who is a conservative radio personality in Wisconsin (and is sometimes a guest on MSNBC), thinks Trump and many of his closest aides and his supporters are deluded and deplorable. It’s a common theme among thinking conservatives.

    The second half of her comment, which doesn’t get played much. Let me provide the entire statement: ” I know there are only 60 days left to make our case — and don’t get complacent, don’t see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think well he’s done this time. We are living in a volatile political environment. You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?

    [Laughter/applause]

    The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people — now how 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America. But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they’re in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.”

    This is a very, very perceptive statement, but we have a brain dead media who let’s the fascist propagandists get away with clipping the statement down and not giving proper context.

    Now I have given the entire quote, but the entire speech is even better and should be read. Here is a link:

    http://time.com/4486502/hillary-clinton-basket-of-deplorables-transcript/

  41. barry freed 2016-09-13 10:58

    None of the above. Not again until we get a candidate that has intellect and compassion. i.e. Ralph Nader.
    Clinton would attack the Constitution, Trump is a “Punk Show” prank gone viral.

    I am heartened to see the NRA is sending Missionaries from the Dakotas and Montana to violence ravaged Europe and American big cities to witness the unarmed masses. They focus on those who are not rich or connected and thus, cannot own a firearm. They share their stories of leaving doors unlocked, not hesitating to stop and help a stranded motorist, and the utter absence of home invasions in their States.

    They are holding fact based seminars and hands-on NRA firearm instruction for anyone yearning to live without fear. Most of these victims of criminals and pontificating politicians who are guarded 24/7 with highly trained and machine gun armed mercenaries, have never held a gun, much less known a time without fear in their own homes.

    Participants speak of confidence, relief, and the sheer fun of target shooting. They find that guns cannot go off by themselves and aren’t the least titillating or have any of the prurient effects the Second Amendment detractors conjure up.

    In Europe and New York City, these Missionaries preach basic human rights and the Universal Right to defend one’s self and family. They remind Europe of the minutes it took for each disarmed Country to fall to Hitler and the Powers behind him. They note the American Government transgressions with factual accounts of Japanese Internment Camps and genocide against Indigenous Peoples in North America. There is no fear mongering and racism like Trump pitches, nor inflated statistics (lies) as Hillary spews. Just facts, without the hate or emotional rhetoric by the American Left and Right.

    Instruction, with the blessings of Law Enforcement, begins in local public parks for anyone 11 and older, and ends with live firearm training 12 miles off shore in International Waters. All participants come back to shore with smiles and a brighter outlook for the future of themselves and their children. Not all Europeans say they will own a gun after they change their country’s laws, but all say they no longer fear guns, finding the hyperbole of anti-gunners amusing.

    https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160205/europeans-discover-virtues-of-armed-self-defense-as-eu-bureaucrats-seek-new-gun-controls

  42. Dicta 2016-09-13 11:33

    “And yes..Trump has already promoted genocide policies. He is running a blatantly violent anti-msulim, anti Mexican campaign. Once he controls the military and FBI watch out.”

    No, he literally he has not. I don’t get the need to lie about this. He’s a racist, xenophobic pig who crows about deporting millions of people, building walls, spying on people because of religion, etc. THIS IS NOT GENOCIDE. It’s deplorable, utterly garbage policy positions, BUT IT’S NOT GENOCIDE. Damn, show some intellectual honesty.

    Again, I don’t understand the need for hyperbole when you have so much readily available ammunition to lob at Trump.

  43. Jenny 2016-09-13 11:40

    So the ammosexuals of the NRA are helping arm Europeans? Strange.

  44. Craig 2016-09-13 12:47

    Dicta – Trump called for the killing of the families of terrorists correct?

    Trump: “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself. When they say they don’t care about their lives, you have to take out their families”.

    That sort of makes it sound like Trump would like to eradicate a certain group of people not because of what they have done, but because of the fact they share a familial relationship with someone who has engaged in terrorism. Thus Trump wishes to eradicate a specific group of people aka commit genocide.

    Based upon his other statements, it isn’t a stretch to believe he would feel the same way towards Muslims or Mexicans either. He hasn’t gone so far as to openly suggest they are killed however – so we can give him credit for that I suppose.

  45. Roger Cornelius 2016-09-13 12:47

    Hillary was simply following Donald Trump’s sage advice of being politically (in)correct when she called his supporters a basket-of-deplorables.

    She was simply doing what Trump has done throughout this campaign.

  46. Craig 2016-09-13 13:06

    “I am heartened to see the NRA is sending Missionaries from the Dakotas and Montana to violence ravaged Europe and American big cities to witness the unarmed masses. They focus on those who are not rich or connected and thus, cannot own a firearm. They share their stories of leaving doors unlocked, not hesitating to stop and help a stranded motorist, and the utter absence of home invasions in their States. ”

    So we are calling them missionaries now? Sounds almost as if they consider gun ownership to be a religion.

    I wonder if they are also informing people that when they have a firearm in their homes that there is as higher chance that firearm will be used to kill them (the owner) or an innocent party than it would ever be used to kill an intruder. Or if they bother to explain that for every one percent increase in a state’s gun ownership rate, there is a nearly one percent increase in its firearm homicide rate?

    These.
    http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full

    Facts.
    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/defensive-gun-ownership-myth-114262

    Are.
    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/02/having-a-gun-in-the-house-doesnt-make-a-woman-safer/284022/

    Not.
    http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1814426

    In.
    http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301409?journalCode=ajph&

    Dispute.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9715182/

    I’m all for the Second Amendment and I own firearms myself, but it is dishonest to suggest teaching people that the answer to their problems is simply ownership of a firearm when the data shows more times than not an increase in ownership leads to more gun violence – not less.

  47. Darin Larson 2016-09-13 13:50

    When you look at the polling of the views of Trump supporters, I would have to agree that it is a basket of deplorables. When hate, fear, misogyny, racism and bigotry are the driving forces behind Trump’s campaign, Clinton’s description is quite appropriate. Furthermore, when Republicans can’t bring themselves to say that the KKK and David Duke are deplorable, it is clear they have sold their souls to the Trumpster. They have a modern day carnival barker running as their nominee for president. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

  48. Darin Larson 2016-09-13 17:20

    To the Trump supporters: Are you voting for him based upon his foreign policy? The Republicans are falling all over themselves defending Trump’s statement that Putin is a stronger leader than President Obama and heaping praise on Putin. These are the strangest political bedfellows that I have ever seen.

    Republicans are heaping praise on a functional dictator who has locked up and murdered dissidents, restricted the freedom of the press, invaded Ukraine and seized the Crimea, while enabling the Assad regime in Syria to stay in power while it indiscriminately bombs its own citizens. Republicans used to strongly oppose “the evil empire” of the USSR. Now Trump has forced his party to sing the praises of Putin in order to defend Trump. What’s next? Communism is not that bad? Authoritarians get a bad rap? Democracy is overrated? We don’t need freedom of speech or the press?

  49. leslie 2016-09-13 22:28

    “We want her to win big,” Pelosi said. “I think we come close to taking the House. But if hillary wins by like five, six points, I think everything, Democrats win everything.” wapo today

    keep it up trump

  50. leslie 2016-09-13 22:39

    meanwhile, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/13/wells-fargo-fired-5300-workers-for-illegal-sales-push-executive-in-charge-retiring-with-125-million/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_wb-wellsfargo-1210pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

    daugaard buddy wellsfargo did this….

    while rounds who could perhaps give his EB5 cohort denny advice on water management, and EPA which he wants to dissolve. Rounds co-sponsored this pro-CEO pay hiding repeal, too:

    BNA) — The pay ratio disclosure requirement of Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a “perfect example of an unnecessary and complex regulatory requirement that is not worth the cost and should be repealed,” Rep. Bill Huizenga (R–Mich.) told BNA March 20.

    the Burdensome Data Collection Relief Act (H.R. 1135) March 13… the proposed legislation “offers us the opportunity to provide bipartisan regulatory relief to all publicly traded companies.” how nice rounds.

    and Obama just said:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-blasts-trump-as-a-phony-champion-of-the-working-class/2016/09/13/4a97be98-79c9-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html?hpid=hp_special-topic-chain_obama1045p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

  51. leslie 2016-09-13 22:40

    word salad he scoffed….:)

  52. leslie 2016-09-13 22:41

    dessert: “hamfisted on Godwin’s law “

  53. Lisa 2016-10-21 09:08

    Johnson/Weld!

Comments are closed.