Fabricators and the 2016 presidential election

If the 2016 presidential election were decided solely by those who responded to the October “Fabricating Update” question asking readers to “vote” and share their reasons for choosing their candidate, the 45th president of the United States would be Donald J. Trump by a landslide.

In what has been the most rancorous, polarizing campaign in at least my voting history, many have concluded that our choices are less than stellar. While some enthusiastically support one of the major party candidates, and have since the election process first began, others say they are holding their noses and voting for the lesser of two evils. Some are considering third-party candidates and write-ins, or are choosing to sit this one out.

How are “Fabricating Update” subscribers voting and why? Among those who responded to the newsletter, 70 percent are voting for Trump; 15 percent for Hillary Clinton; and 15 percent for “neither” or a third-party candidate.

Among the reasons given for choosing Donald Trump are:

“He has a great business background. He speaks his mind. We need to get back to the basics and quit being so politically correct on every move or thing somebody does.” – Fred M.

“He’s a job creator. Been through too many shop closings in the fab world over 35 years as an engineer.” – Ross

“He understands how over regulation, over taxation, and unreasonable EPA regulations have made it next to impossible to sustain a profitable business in the U.S. and kill job growth. We can be safe, fiscally responsible, and good stewards of the earth without the extremist regulations now choking U.S. productivity and forcing jobs to move overseas.” – Rick S.

“Our entrenched political parties (on both sides of the aisle) have sold us out to foreign interests. They got their money and we are left with nothing. Trump is our only hope, a sad commentary indeed. – Lee S.

“His list of Supreme Court judges are far better than Hillary Clinton’s. This is what matters most to me.” – Ty M.

“It is not that I believe he is a better candidate than Hillary Clinton. I don’t believe either one of them will do a good job, let alone a great job as we really need at this point in our country’s framework.

“It is because of a moral issue. I believe Trump, as flawed as he is, will lead us down a better path then Clinton will. I owe it to my children and grand-children to do what will best suit them in the future. As a country we must stop pushing our problems down the road for the next generations. We must address racial issues. We must stop the increasing debt/deficit of our country. We must get people to work that want to work and give incentives for those who are on welfare to want to work again. We must take the tax burden off of all Americans, including businesses and, especially, small businesses. Too much of our tax dollars are being wasted and thrown away because of debt and special interest groups. We must work on our infrastructure in order to keep America heading forward.

“While I don’t think Trump is able to do all of these and maybe only a couple of them, Clinton seems to put her head in the sand and is more worried about the global issues as opposed to the issues at home, which need immediate attention. Unless these issues are addressed very soon, sometime within the next two or three generations, the United States will no longer be a world leader. We will be a third world country depending on other countries to help us instead of us helping them.” – Jim R.

Only two Hillary Clinton supporters shared the reason(s) for their choice:

“Trump is an a**hole.” – Dave S.

“Every reason under the sun, more qualified, better temperament.” – Zack T.

Robert D. chose Gary Johnson, because “Hillary and Donald scare the crap out of me.”

Angelica A. is voting for Humane Party candidate Clifton Roberts. “He is the only one speaking truly and honestly about real solutions to save our environment. He is the voice of life. The others are the voice of some people’s money. Some people’s money doesn’t feed life. Oxygen does, plants do.”

Mas S. plans to write-in Bernie Sanders. And then there are those who can’t support either of the major party candidates and don’t have an alternate choice. They simply will not vote. And, as we are reminded frequently, not voting or voting for a third-party candidate is a vote for the worst of two evils.