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milestogo

(18,208 posts)
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 07:16 PM Nov 2023

Are the American people as a group intelligent enough to pick a qualified president?


I have to say that many people who vote in presidential elections would say shockingly stupid things if you asked them why they were voting for someone.
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Yes we are
18 (60%)
No fucking way
8 (27%)
Robb is a dingbat
2 (7%)
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0 (0%)
OTHER
2 (7%)
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll
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Are the American people as a group intelligent enough to pick a qualified president? (Original Post) milestogo Nov 2023 OP
Yes, but we are handicapped Arger68 Nov 2023 #1
nope... myohmy2 Nov 2023 #2
Possibly barely under current conditions. dchill Nov 2023 #3
Yes, if we all voted. Freethinker65 Nov 2023 #4
clearly 50% of the population isn't. WarGamer Nov 2023 #5
Right... Septua Nov 2023 #8
Uncertain. elleng Nov 2023 #6
Generally yes treestar Nov 2023 #7
What better way to pick a President Progressive dog Nov 2023 #9
Didn't They In 2020? ProfessorGAC Nov 2023 #10
Yes we are, but it's close. GoodRaisin Nov 2023 #11
Were we intelligent enough to do so in 2016 ? DontBelieveEastisEas Nov 2023 #12
Ask me that again in one year. nt Quixote1818 Nov 2023 #13
I Said Americans Weren't Intelligent Enough To Govern Themselves After 2004 ChoppinBroccoli Nov 2023 #14
qualified? moondust Nov 2023 #15
Back when there used to be a smidge of integrity in the national press,... LudwigPastorius Nov 2023 #16
We used to be Johonny Nov 2023 #17
Exactly milestogo Nov 2023 #20
I am so depressed mainer Nov 2023 #18
Ronald Reagan, George Bush (s), Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover chouchou Nov 2023 #19
The American People are 6-1 in picking the most qualified person running for President in the last 30 years. aeromanKC Nov 2023 #21
It's not the people who choose, but rather the people they choose. LastLiberal in PalmSprings Jan 2024 #22

Progressive dog

(7,298 posts)
9. What better way to pick a President
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 08:00 PM
Nov 2023

would you suggest?
The American people might do a better job if the electoral college did not exist, but our system of government has survived for a long time and actually has gotten more democratic over time.

GoodRaisin

(9,624 posts)
11. Yes we are, but it's close.
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 10:29 PM
Nov 2023

There are an awful lot of stupid people and ignorant people that vote.

DontBelieveEastisEas

(1,200 posts)
12. Were we intelligent enough to do so in 2016 ?
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 10:49 PM
Nov 2023

It's not just the USA.

Anytime everyone gets a vote, the majority can easily pick an unqualified president.
With our current system, it doesn't even take a majority to pick an unqualified president.

ChoppinBroccoli

(3,899 posts)
14. I Said Americans Weren't Intelligent Enough To Govern Themselves After 2004
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 10:56 PM
Nov 2023

When millions of Americans lined up and voted for the worst President in the history of this country (at the time). My faith in America was shaken to its very core after that election. I was quite literally inconsolable for the better part of a week.

The fact that Donald Trump got one single vote (and is currently the Republican front-runner) proves the point I've been making for a long time now: About 90% of Americans are so dumb that I don't know how they find their way home at night.

LudwigPastorius

(11,027 posts)
16. Back when there used to be a smidge of integrity in the national press,...
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 11:35 PM
Nov 2023

the reporting of actual facts helped to make up for the ignorance of a large swath of the voting age populace.

But, instead of Walter Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley, we've now got people getting their "news" from FOX, Pitter, YouTube, TikTok, or the voices in their head.

Johonny

(22,222 posts)
17. We used to be
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 11:42 PM
Nov 2023

But how the fuck is Trump even leading anything. Fool me once . . . It's embarrassing that this fool is going to win the primary again.

mainer

(12,193 posts)
18. I am so depressed
Fri Nov 17, 2023, 11:46 PM
Nov 2023

I am beginning to think we’re doomed by the lowest common denominator.

chouchou

(1,399 posts)
19. Ronald Reagan, George Bush (s), Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover
Sat Nov 18, 2023, 12:05 AM
Nov 2023

Most Americans (Somewhere around 60 percent) can't even pass an American citizenship test.
Look at the South and you'll see some of the most idiotic walking bags of ignorance possible.
If it wasn't for the intelligent, pretty-damn-savvy individuals (also in the States), we'd be quarantined from
the rest of the world.

aeromanKC

(3,488 posts)
21. The American People are 6-1 in picking the most qualified person running for President in the last 30 years.
Sat Nov 18, 2023, 09:37 AM
Nov 2023

Unfortunately we are hamstrung with an archaic election procedure instead of by the majority of the popular vote.

22. It's not the people who choose, but rather the people they choose.
Fri Jan 12, 2024, 07:55 PM
Jan 2024

Regardless of political affiliation, does anyone truly believe that out of several hundred thousands of qualified people in the United States, only George W. Bush and Trump rise to the top? They aren't even fit to pick up a hammer and hand it to Jimmy Carter.

Bush was the guy you'd want to have a beer with. Trump is a cult leader and mob boss who rules his followers by fear -- either of what he or his followers will physically do to them, or fear of The Other, i.e., non-white non-Christian, non-English-speaking evil vermin that only he can protect us from.

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