Do candidates have to earn your vote?

No. They "earn" my vote by being the Democrat who's running. That's my bar... Democrat. Period. 

For local elections, like our county board where everyone is a Democrat, then yes they need to tell me why I should vote for them. 

I used to pay a lot more attention, and would probably qualify as a swing voter. Not anymore.

My county is 50/50 red/blue which means half the people I know voted for Trump which is extremely depressing... It makes me not want to people. My state however is solidly blue.

Before the MAGA group, I voted based on who aligned more with my beliefs. All but once that was a Democrat.

For local offices, I still read up and vote based on who I think is best qualified.

For federal government positions, I vote D down the line.

If we had an actual capable republican party, I would see who was best qualified and vote accordingly.

It frustrates me that we could be ruled under MAGA because people are choosing note to vote for Biden due to what is going on in Gaza.

No president will 100% ever align with your beliefs. But for them to be okay with human rights here in the US at jeopardy because they don't like that Biden isn't standing up for Palestinians is irritating. Like stop hyper focusing on the it thing and look at the bigger picture.

I often wonder how mentally draining and tiring their lives are, always angry at something.

I might have said that in years past when there were two fairly reasonable, fairly normal, fairly comparable candidates to choose from. But in the USA of today, nope, nope, nope. Only one of the two main players would fit the description of reasonable or normal no matter how many whataboutisms the other side continually tries to conjure up. 

And I would think for young people in particular, they are the ones who IMO have the most to lose if they don’t vote at all or of they vote for republicans anywhere on the ticket up or down ballot. In states where women’s reproductive rights have been or are being rolled back, those results will affect young men too so that alone really isn’t just a woman’s rights issue.

I’m so seriously hoping we see a HUGE BLUE TIDAL WAVE come November not only for my own DD but for all young people coming up. I hope people in general are coming to understand just what a grave disservice to the American people it was to allow Trump to stack the Supreme Court with the current crop of conservatives the way he was allowed to, and the negative impact that alone will have for literal decades to come.

ETA: I seriously wish I could plant a huge VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO sign in my front yard, but because we are self employed I can understand why DH wouldn’t want that. 

I agree but my only caveat is if they were a life long republican, endorsed and supported the republican ways, then all of a sudden run as a democrat.  My example would be Rick Caruso who ran for Mayor of Los Angeles last year.  I truly believe he only ran to get into office to benefit his personal businesses which have to do with creating new commercial buildings.  He thought he could switch to being a democrat and scoop up all the republican vote and siphon a lot of the democrat vote.  I was surprised at the true blue democrats who supported him.  In the end, it didn't work.

I am going to vote. It always comes down as a choice between two. Usually one is far more desirable or one so bad that the choice is easy. The last time I found the choice difficult was 2000. There were things I liked and disliked about both candidates. It was something one candidate did that I disliked in the debates that helped me make the decision.

A candidate I will vote will win or lose my vote. A candidate that has been convicted of raping a woman, lost my vote. How do wine tell out daughters this is okay?

This is me too. I never voted strictly party - either one - but looked at what the candidate stands for. But the Republicans have lost their minds, so now I'll vote D all the way. At least in federal elections. For state and local I still vote person not party.

the only ones I really study now is the local city/county races.. school board, state propositions, local propositions, supervisor, and so on.

I don't think I have ever voted for a republican

Not anymore. As a woman, voting Republican is no longer an option.

It's been a long time since any candidate attempted to earn my vote. They just want to tell us all what's the matter with their opponents. That's why we get the nut jobs we're getting. What normal person would subject themselves and their families to that?

In case anyone was thinking the GOP was still salvageable:

These days, with what the entire GOP has done or allowed to happen under their watch, if they have a ‘D’ they get my vote. And in the circumstances I see/hear comments like that it’s almost always someone who would likely vote GOP anyway, but are embarrassed because they know what all they would be supporting if they did so now and how that reflects on them. 

I used to not vote if I didn’t have time to research each of the candidates because I felt that responsibility very strongly and that I hadn’t earned the right to vote, didn’t deserve to vote if I hadn’t done my duty. So sometimes I would only vote for the main positions and sometimes not at all. 

Mine is 84% red, down a whopping two percent from 2016. So, only 2% of my county saw what Trump did and what the GOP allowed/enabled to happen and thought “that's not okay with me.” I’m with you, it makes me not want to people.