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Why Do So Many Americans Vote Conservative? [1]

['Meteor Blades', 'Wafflehacker Aka Joshhacks', 'Greg Dworkin']

Date: 2026-08-03  

There is a place for conservative values in America. As a Black American, I was raised in a family of traditionalists, anti-abortion, strong church attendance, and strict adherence to gender roles. If you go back a few generations before my birth, the roles of women were strictly defined, and children were to be seen and not heard. For years, African Americans, especially in the South, voted for Republicans; after all, Lincoln freed the slaves. But like with most cultural norms, when you know better, you do better. I can say something now that as a young man I would have been loath to say: abortion, not family planning, health risks, or all the other euphemisms we are afraid to say instead of the simple acknowledgment that women have a right to decline having a baby, is ok. I questioned religion following the death of my infant son in 1979. I was mad at God, and it took me years to realize that was ok.

A childhood friend of mine died about a year ago; he was an effeminate child, a flamboyant teen, and a transgender woman. My friends and I thought it perfectly acceptable to ridicule both his life and later her gender affirmation. Yes, yes, I used all the absurd and insulting language used to objectify and exclude a person’s humanity. Fortunately, I learned a lot from her but never apologized; for that I am sorry. Conservatism, writ large, seems to be still stuck in misogyny, racial division, faith as an excuse, and shooting first—literally—and asking questions later. That spurred me to ask: why do so many Americans vote for Republicans? The simple answer would be to say that Conservatism is attractive to bigots, racists, misogynists, and gun nuts.

I believe it is more…

The mere fact that some of the most egregious incidents and mistakes in judgment, policy, and actions have been led by conservative leadership. Since the American Revolution, there have probably been two completely justifiable wars in our history: the Civil War was overseen by a Republican, and a Democrat led World War II. When COVID-19 hit the country, we were not ready, despite the theatrics of GOP senators attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci in a hearing last week. The previous Democratic administration had a plan of attack for a pandemic. Scrapping the plan left to him and defunding preventative projects for just such an occurrence exposed Donald Trump as a detriment to life. Yes, a Democrat was president in 1918 during the Spanish Flu epidemic, but the comparisons in knowledge, treatment, and world communications are not comparable. The two most significant financial failures in the last 100 years have resulted from Republican financial policy: Herbert Hoover in 1929 and George W. Bush in 2008.

In each case, a Democrat spent the first term of their subsequent election cleaning up the mess that was left to them. What this points to is the simple fact that Republicans, for all their talk, have become the party of no accountability. After 9/11, the Republicans ignored the fact that arguably the biggest intelligence failure in American history caused the deaths of nearly three thousand citizens. Instead, the GOP has spent years trying to credit George W. Bush for his response. After 1/6, Republicans told us not to believe our eyes, but that patriots righteously attacked the citadel of American politics, the United States Capitol. The current President absolved them of all responsibility. However, many (97 at the latest count) have been rearrested. There is no inherent gene or psychological trauma that makes people vote conservative; it is instead their need not to accept their own failures in life.

My life is compromised because of Blacks, Hispanics, or women; the enemy has changed for Conservatives, depending on eras. The proliferation of the so-called manosphere is nothing more than seeking a scapegoat for personal shortcomings of one’s own making. It is the natural evolution of people as they grow in numbers and education that competition gets stiffer, so the ability to compete and stay current falls on the individual, not the entrants into the arena. Currently, the steward of Conservative catastrophe is President Donald John Trump. According to him, his loss to Joe Biden was rigged. His miscalculation with tariffs resulting in inflation is because Americans want to buy too many pencils and dolls at Christmas. The current potential quagmire in Iran is not because his predecessors were better strategists but because they were either weak, stupid, or not him. The message the President sends to his minions, whether they be Cabinet members, pundits, or the cult, is that Conservatism absolves you of any responsibility because nothing is ever your fault when there is a migrant or a Black person to shoot or a woman holding you back. Self-reflection is not a feature of the Conservative movement, but maybe a few honest mirrors could help solve the problem.

Your Vote is Still Your Voice (So Scream)

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/3/800078484/community/why-do-so-many-americans-vote-conservative/

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