The following are dumb reasons to vote for or against a candidate:
- "I'd like to have a beer/coffee/glass o' bourbon with him/her." We are electing a president not a drinking buddy.
- "The media was mean/racist/sexist to him/her." We are voting for a candidate, not against the media.
- "He or she is a person of color/woman." We are voting for an individual candidate who will lead the country. We are not voting to affirm a principle.
- "Supporters of oner candidate were mean to me on the internet." We are voting for a candidate, not against that candidate's supporters.
- "Candidate X is against my single issue Y" There are more than 10,000 issues out there. Try taking a holistic view. The game here is chess, not checkers.
- "Candidate X can't win." Not voting for X because X cannot allegedly win is nothing but allowing a self-fulfilling prophesy to come true. If Gravel is your man, then vote for him.
- "I'm holding out for Al Gore to get in." Al Gore isn't running. (But I wouldn't mind a brokered convention where Al is nominated!)
There is only one good reason to vote for a candidate - of all the choices, you think that candidate would make the best president. That's the only good reason to vote for someone.
A fair reason to vote for candidate X is that the other candidates would be worse. But I don't think this is a good reason, merely a respectable one.