Thanks to everyone who answered; I can tell from the replies that it was a difficult question.
My answer is: yes, but only under the very narrow conditions that I thought that the candidate's other, probably terrible, policies on choice or marriage equality or policing or trans rights or immigration enforcement or other human rights issues could not be realized.
This is high risk, I don't know how well I could ever ensure that, so in real life it would be very, very rare. But, I'd consider it.
@evan I thought about this quite a bit. I'd much rather vote for an unlikely-to-win candidate who aligns with me on all my values—if someone identifies with the Republican party in this day and age, they are aligning themselves to fascism, so any support for ending the genocide would be opportunistic at best, and undercut by everything else they've signed onto.
I get where you landed but for myself I decided it would not work.
@willhopkins yeah, personally, I'd rather vote for a 3rd-party candidate who aligned with more of my point of view and was also anti-genocide.
@evan Um. Then what do you call 10/7?
@scottag I think you're objecting to the use of the word "genocide"? The UN Human Rights Council, ICC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Médecins sans Frontières, and Oxfam have all called the situation in Gaza a genocide. I am comfortable using the term.
@scottag If you're literally asking what I, Evan Prodromou, would call the October 7th attacks, I think the ICC used pretty accurate terms in its warrants for Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh: war crimes, crimes against humanity, mass killings, hostage taking, rape and other acts of sexual violence. If I had to make it short, I'd say the "the October 7th attacks" or the "the October 7th massacre".
@scottag I think there are groups like the American Jewish Committee and the World Jewish Congress who have used terms like "genocidal aims" or implied genocidal intent, but I don't know if anyone has called the Oct 7 attacks a genocide. That doesn't make them more acceptable or less horrific, though.
@evan All Democrats in my state but I would happily vote for Thomas Massie.
@evan No because they’re still LGBTQ+ hating, billionaire loving, “tread on me harder” hypocrites.
I'm not against voting for Republicans but also opposing the genocide would not be enough in itself. If I thought anybody could achieve a long-term solution to give the Palestinians equal rights and peace, that might be enough to sway me despite disagreeing on lots of other issues. IDK.
@wjmaggos thanks for such a good answer!
@evan I wouldn't vote for a Republican if it was one of the demands in the note from my mother's kidnappers.
@evan I've never voted for a Presidential candidate in the USA affiliated with a major party.
Not once since 1992 when they finally allowed me to vote here.
I have believed since the 1980s that both of the major parties have failed us and I refuse to support them.
From my perspective, I do not really live in a Republic at all as my views are never represented because the parties ceased being coalitions in the 1960s.
@evan In the US today, There's no such thing as a Republican elected official at the Federal level who will oppose the Gaza genocide, if Trump supports it. Any Republicans who might have taken a principled stand have long since left the party.
@lauerhahn it doesn't matter; it's a hypothetical question.
However, there are several right wing figures who oppose the genocide, including Marjorie Taylor Green, recently resigned Representative.
@evan Marjorie Taylor Green is not a current sitting representative. (Also she's a Christian nationalist who is overtly Islamophobic and anti-Semitic. I don't trust her to support Palestinian people in any way.)
@lauerhahn fixed, thanks!
I think you've linked genocide opposition to other good personal qualities, which isn't necessarily the case. Bad people can oppose a genocide.
@evan @lauerhahn No current National Republican politician can go against Trump, and Trump wants Gaze to become a beach resort or some such, so not Republican can be trusted to take any action on Gaza.
At this point in time I would think that a moral Democrat not concerned about Gaza is likely still to do more to protect Gaza than the Republican who must cater to MAGA and Trump.
@gam3 @lauerhahn has denying the premise of the question helped you avoid the difficult choice of actually answering it? You seem to have settled into your priors, instead of making a tough decision.
@evan As an American voter, I don't foresee a future where I will ever vote for someone running under a GOP banner ever again.
@evan I would vote for neither.
@burnoutqueen what did you reply to the poll? "No"?
No, but
@evan No but I would think about it.
@evan but I'd be very vocal about wanting that Democrat to oppose the genocide. I wouldn't trust the Republican to actually do anything to oppose his party's support for it.
@tknarr let's hope that works.
@evan Responding because I want to see the results.
I don't really vote along party lines. I have voted more Democratic in the last several years, but that has more to do with whether or not they support Trump. Anyone who supports Trump, I will automatically vote for the other person.
So, that would have to do with other issues as well.
@danjones000 it sounds like you vote entirely along party lines, then.
I frequently vote third party (not for President or Congress).
For judges, it's about half and half Republican and Democrat. I rarely even look at the party for judicial candidates, since they almost never comment on partisan politics.
For Sheriff, it's usually Democrat, unless I get a bad vibe from the Democratic candidate; then I'll vote Republican.
@evan
"over" suggests that if I didn't vote for the Republican, I would vote for the Democrat. Republicans that are right on a few issues are still not to be trusted and Democrats who support genocide are also not to be trusted. So, my vote would be for neither.
@thezerobit I think your answer is "no" or "no, but"
@evan problem with that.
No reputincan truly does. Some of them could- entirely hypothetical, might I add - say so, on the grounds of liberthurian non-intervention, but they would still vote lockstep with tRumpo.
@evan history suggests the Republican is lying.
@dr2chase Denying the premise is lazy. There are plenty of examples of pro-Palestinian Republicans.
At this point I vote only for non-partisan local offices, local and state ballot measures.
@evan Assuming we're talking about the primaries, here. I would forego the opportunity to select (D) candidates to vote for an (R) candidate that publicly denounces Gaza genocide over their (R) leadership-favored opposition. In the general election, it is very unlikely there will ever be an anti-genocide (R) that is not matched by an anti-genocide (D), given how (D) candidates determine campaign strategy.
@evan I'd have to get over my disbelief, first. Is there such a Republican in any upcoming election? Were there any in the previous election?
@swelljoe it's a hypothetical question, but there exist prominent right-wing figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Marjorie Taylor Green who have used the word "genocide" and expressed strong opposition to US support for the war. I think Thomas Massie opposes support for Israel in a more libertarian America-first mode.
If you're still not convinced this scenario is within the bounds of possibility, feel free to skip the question.
@evan @swelljoe Ten years ago, this might have been within the bounds of possibility. Today it is not (except if you allow for the case where the Republican is outright lying & will reverse their position on a dime.)
Any Republican elected with a shred of morality or human decency already left the party years ago.
@lauerhahn @swelljoe I've just given a list of public right-wing figures who vocally oppose the genocide. Whether or not they have a shred of decency is beside the point. Bad people can share the same policy agenda as you and I, maybe for very bad reasons.
@lauerhahn @swelljoe if Republicans were otherwise good people, this would be a much easier question.
@evan I generally don't vote by party anymore (and don't know why someone would). Both parties here are pretty "wonky", to be nice about it :)
@evan That depends on so many things. But to the extent I would vote for a Republican who aligned more with my values than the Democrat they opposed, this is one of the issues I would consider. Not the only one—if it was, I might have voted for Trump, the “anti-war” candidate.
@evan
That would be a Republican who purported to oppose the Gaza genocide. I wouldn't believe them for a minute.
@tlariv it's a hypothetical question. In this scenario, they oppose the genocide.
USA voters only please: would you vote for a Republican that opposed the Gaza genocide over a Democrat who did not?
#EvanPoll #poll