POLL: Were your parents BLUE or RED?

[RiverStone]

It is probably safe to assume the vast majority of folks at DU are DEMS. Can one also assume the vast majority of our parents growing up were DEMS? Or not?

Similar to the old nature vs nurture question on formation of personality, did we become like our parents (politically) or rebel against what we did not like? Or possibly there was no connect at all. Either way, somehow, thankfully...we find ourselves HERE.


:kick: :applause: :kick:


As a child, how would you have defined your parents political affiliation?

[warrens]

1. You left out "wingnut"

My father makes Pigboy look reasonable. He's an engineer who believes that a cold winter in Florida means that global warming is a hoax. I advised him to buy coastal property, lots of it, and skip the insurance.

[Hobarticus]

2. Parents divorced, lived with blue mom. Philandering father GOP...

Mom: telephone operator, union steward. As wonderful and generous a human being as they come.

Dad: salesman, philandering selfish bastard. Likable, but still an SOB. My siblings all agree, we were much better off without him in the house.

[Maat]

6. Dang it! You owe me a new keyboard!

Between your post and your sig line (photo/ad), I laughed so hard I spewed diet coke all over the place!

HeeHee.

Thanks.

:)

[Hobarticus]

10. Dang it! Not another one!

Alright....watch your mailbox, it's on the way.

[Maat]

12. Thanks. HeeHee. Take care!

On edit:

Just who is that guy in the photo?

[terrya]

My parents voted straight Democratic.

My Dad, in particular, HATED Republicans. You should have heard him go off when Reagan was President. :-)

My Dad passed away 3 years ago. Mom still votes straight Democratic.

[AlinPA]

20. Same here for my parents who died about 10 years ago.

[Kolesar]

3. To his credit, Richard Nixon did do one good thing while he was in office...

...He turned my parents into Democrats! :dem:

[sal paradise]

4. This poll is a very good idea; sheds light on a lot

[Hamlette]

5. one of each, until Reagan, who turned my dad Blue

he got more and more liberal as he got older. I wondered if he always had been but voted GOP because he was military connected.

He did buy into the smaller government idea but in the libertarian sense: keep the gov't out of my life!

[Raine]

7. Mine were moderate repubs

we all got fed up with the way Raygun took the party to the right. My brother and I became Democrats first and my parents soon followed. :-)

[BlackVelvet04]

8. My dad WAS a republican

and my mom was pretty quite about politics but I found out recently that she voted for Carter and Kennedy.

The last election I think they both voted a straight Democratic ticket. Even my republican dad was disgusted and fed up with this administration.

[louis c]

9. My Dad was a Brooke Republican

Quite a difference from what we have now.

I have always been a Democrat.

It started with Eugene McCarthy and then George McGovern.

Since then, I have been an activist Labor Democrat.

[Maat]

11. My parents made Barry Goldwater look like a liberal.

My dad had this RepubliCon side he displayed to his friends; out of the limelight, he was very libertarian. He passed this September 7th. He never gave me grief about being a Dem; he just took it with a sense of humor. Of course, he had dementia throughout the "Dubya" years. May he rest in peace.

Mother and I have barely spoken in the last few decades; she has a very controlling personality, and insists that Dubya is a wonderful president!

I was a Democrat, then there were a few Republican years, and then (just before Clinton was elected) I touched base with reality after becoming involved in social services. I've been a Democrat ever since!

[bigwillq]

13. Blue (nt)

[CTyankee]

14. Daddy became a Repub when he became a business man in Texas

Mother was a lifelong Democrat who lapsed briefly into Ronald Reagan. But she snapped back, voting for Dems after that.

Daddy had become a Taft Repubican in the 1950s. I was too young to know why. But he used to say things like "You can't get something for nothing" and "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

My mother's father, who died before I was born, was an older man when he married her mother. He was 8 years old when Sherman marched through Georgia and destroyed the family farm. They had to move to Texas. After that, he refused to go above the Mason Dixon line until his son, my uncle, graduated from West Point. He went to his graduation. He took my mother to the polls when she turned 21 and instructed her to vote for the Democrat for President, FDR.

[MrSlayer]

15. Mom blue, Dad red.

Still are.

[amb123]

16. My mother Hazel was a "Rockefeller" Republican.

She re-registered as an independent before she passed away because the GOP became extreme right-wing.

[dae]

17. Blue.

:kick:

[Lady Effingbroke]

18. Red. Very, very red.

If the Republicans wrote "lotsa luv from Dubya" on a bomb and dropped it dead center on my parents' house, my parents (my mother in particular) would still find a way to blame it on the Democrats.

Cognitive dissonance and denial play a rather prominent role in my father's life; my mother will go to her grave singing the virtues of the Republican party. I am convinced that nothing the 'Pubs have done or will ever do will dispel her ironclad belief that 'Republicans=good, Democrats=bad'.

[warrens]

21. Sounds like my father

My mom was more a Goldwater republican, not mean-minded. My father would happily gas everyone on this board. Except you FReeper lurkers.

[RiverStone]

30. Oh Lady, there must be something!

That is so beyond the pale of stupidity and arrogance that Bush could do to change your mom's view before she dies??? Of course, most of everything he has already done is way beyond stupid.

Reading your words, I could not help but think of the flick "Dr. Stangelove" with Slim Pickens riding the bomb; but if it was Bush himself...heading towards your mom's house? Would that change her mind?

[HockeyMom]

19. My Dad was a Longshoreman, ILA

Democrat. What else? My Mom was a second generation Italian. Also, Democrat. It took ME 30 years to see the light (Independent). For that I thank, George W. Bush, and the religious, right wing Republican Congress.

My 20 something daughters, on the other hand, were a lot smarter than me. Who says the younger generation is "unaware"??????

[dubykc]

22. My parents were both blue, Mom was much more political than Dad...

Dad never voted in my lifetime, he just bitched and moaned about whoever got elected.

My grandfather told me just before my 18th birthday if I EVER voted for ANY candidate that was not a Democrat, he would, at that point, cease to have a grandson. I have never voted anything but a straight Dem ticket in the last 30 years.

[flaminbats]

59. amen!!

and no matter how hard I try to convince him, my dad still refuses to vote :cry:

He protested at the Chicago convention in 1968, but he hasn't voted since Watergate. My mother and I almost always vote the same. I have her to thank for getting me interested in politics!

[Robbien]

23. Don't know

They never talked about it. I believe they were Republicans.

[rhiannon55]

24. Mom Dem; Dad Repub

They couldn't talk about politics without quarreling, so they stayed off the subject. My dad, who died in 1994, was a really nice, kind-hearted man, repub and all. My mom is 75 and still votes a straight Democratic ticket, bless her. She just got to vote for Claire McCaskill!

[in_cog_ni_to]

25. Blue. n/t

[Cameron27]

26. Both parents were democrats

and my grandparents and every aunt, uncle and cousins except for 2.

In-laws, another story.

[YDogg]

27. kennedy turned them democratic

[loyalsister]

28. Dad is die hard Republican

Mom votes as dad votes despite having opinions that are more consistent with Democratic policies.
Dad made me a Democrat mom made me a feminist.

:9

[MoonRiver]

29. They were staunch Repubs until about 1990.

At that point they became horrified about the religious nutcase take over of the party and are now 100% Dem (absolutely adored Clinton). In their 80's now and they are almost more Dem than me!
:D Go folks!!
:kick: ass

[slackmaster]

31. Dad was a conservative Democrat, mom was a lifelong Republican

He's dead, she quit the GOP when it got taken over by religious wackos.

[Saphire]

32. yellow dog democrats...both of them.

[RiverStone]

33. p.s. My parents were JFK Democrats all the way.

Will never forget my mom crying when he was shot.

They both have remained true Blue DEMS all these years.

[FVZA_Colonel]

34. Mom is a liberal all the way, Dad is a bit more conservative on some issues.

However, he voted against Bush in '00 and '04, and hasn't had a single damn good thing to say about him in the past six years.

[Lilith Velkor]

35. Mom was Republican, Dad a Democrat

They have both switched parties and are vice-versa now.

(Is it any wonder I'm an anarchist?)

[renate]

36. as blue as can be

I'm really lucky. :)

[Clinton Crusader]

37. Dad WAS a Kennedy Dem, but NOW is a Bush Puke...

Mom not a citizen, but if she was, she'd be a Dem.

[tenshi816]

38. My parents (including my stepmother)

were mostly apathetic politically, but got more and more right-wing over the years.

I don't think my mother had ever voted in her life until my stepfather instructed her to vote for Nixon in '72, and I'm not sure she ever voted after that. My mom had a real shallow side and judged politicians the same way she judged everyone else - by their looks. She never cared what any particular politician (of any party) actually had to say; it was all about how good-looking he was (and it had to be a "he" because my mother thought women shouldn't run for public office). Mom died in 1998 and I've often wondered what she would have thought about GWB. My guess is that he would've appealed to her. God knows she had enough boyfriends like him over the years.

My dad used to vote Democratic simply because we were related to LBJ on my paternal grandfather's side of the family. Dad said years later, after I became an adult, that he thought LBJ was a sonofabitch, but he was "our sonofabitch" so he had to vote for him. I don't believe he's ever voted for a Democrat since then, although he's sure wavering now.

My stepmother had never voted until the Dumbass ran for office in 2000, and she climbed enthusiastically onto the fundie Republican bandwagon as a two-issue voter (gays and abortion). I was shocked to discover on a visit back to Georgia to visit in 2004 that both my dad and stepmother were actively working on W's re-election campaign. That sure woke me out of the political stupor I had been in since moving to the UK.

I always had liberal leanings myself, even before I was old enough to know what the word meant. I used to wonder how on earth I managed to get born into my family when I clearly didn't think like any of them.

Edit: typo

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

39. My mother was apolitical. My father and grandmother - socialists.

[Warren DeMontague]

40. Dad voted for Nixon repeatedly. Mom never did.

I think my dad was more Libertarian than Republican, though. The religious right used to make him roll his eyes.

[TahitiNut]

41. What color is a Dixiecrat? What color is an apathetic Perot-ista?

:eyes: :puke:

[DireStrike]

42. My dad SAID he was a republican...

Dunno where he got that idea. I'm pretty sure he votes for democrats almost all the time.

My mom is a very bitter person. She hates all sorts of things and people - both the rich/corporate scum and illegal immigrants, because she feels they have all cheated her or got what she deserved. She hates religion and is socially liberal, except concerning human rights and civil liberties.

I am liberal. I recognize when the party's policies are based in idealism, and generally agree - the opposing ideas are based on idealism derived from a collection of "holy" books, "common sense", and tradition rather than from reflections on observations of the real world. The rest of the time it seems like the D party platform is business as usual, or perhaps a bit more fair than it was, while the R positions are always designed to help rich investors and business owners, at everyone else's expense.

The R "new" ideas are regurgitations of whatever random ancient "wisdom" happened to strike them as sounding good... and also helped out their rich friends. The D platform is generally just pragmatic at this point in time, with the potential to nudge the world toward changes I see as favorable.

[GenDem]

43. Both parents - Irish, Catholic, dems

but, I believe that my Mom has allowed the repukes to brain wash her with the abortion issue, so I would bet that she's thrown the lever for a few republicans.

[treestar]

64. Yep, this one is hard on the Catholic Democrats

Of the Irish working class, and their descendants. They really let themselves get one-issue on this and actually vote for Bush over that alone.

[scarletwoman]

44. Oh SO Blue! My dad is a WWII vet, blue-collar passionately political union guy.

Both my parents, who were children during the Depression, have never been anything but absolutely committed Dems. My very first political lesson from my parents -- at age 6 -- was that the Democratic party was "the Party of the Little Guy" and the Republican party was "the party of the Rich".

It was understood in my family (including grandparents, aunts & uncles, etc.) that one voted for Democrats, PERIOD. I grew up nurtured by my parents' liberal philosophy backed up by concrete action. My only "rebellion" -- such as it was -- was to become even MORE lefty radical. And even then they supported me and cheered me on.

My family has always concerned themselves with social justice and truth. I was brought up by very politically conscious classic New Deal liberals -- I am SO lucky!

sw

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

45. Mom has changed over the years

but my grandparents were all Republicans (which is odd, because one grandparent was a doctor, and the other a typesetter and union man-could never figure out why he went with the repukes), and my mother was up until Goldwater-she felt he was too extreme. I think she voted for Reagan, though. I know she hasn't voted for either Bush. BTW, both her children are solid Democrats, as are their spouses and children.

[ThatsMyBarack]

46. Mine are still true blue!

Like mother like father like daughter! :toast:

[The Gunslinger]

47. They were red until Reagan

[Martysbestcatch]

48. Both were Democrats

They are both gone now but Dad was an ironworker (Local 3) and Mom was a switchboard operator. Both were Democrats. I'm the oldest of four daughters. Two of us are Democrats and the other two are Republicans.

[Crunchy Frog]

49. They had little else in common, but they were both Dems. n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

50. Split. But my mom no longer votes for Republicans now. This with no prompting from me.

She concluded during this administration that the Republicans were hopelessly corrupt, although she still self-identifies as one although she votes Democratic.

I hope we can cultivate a large group of "Wes Clark/Al Gore Republicans".

[annabanana]

51. They were blue republicans, New England style.....

When the party veered right they stayed put and have been Democrats since.

[mitchum]

52. Both are Democrats

[williesgirl]

53. They would never say, but everything about them was liberal.

[OhioChick]

54. Both Blue......

My Parents have always been Dems, and both sets of Grandparents were always Dems, as well.

[LWolf]

55. Democrat now.

In earlier times, independent.

[lpbk2713]

56. Boston Democrats ..........

Aunts and Uncles too.

[sandyd921]

57. Both yellow dog Roosevelt Democrats!

n/t

:kick: :patriot: :kick:

[Blue_In_AK]

58. My dad was a Democrat's Democrat...

real old school. My mom claimed to be a Republican, but she became much more liberal as she got older, and she always spoke favorably of FDR, so she may have been a RINO.

[tinfoil tiaras]

60. My mom's about as liberal as they come

but my dad thinks it's "trendy" to be republican and that it will make him "fit in better with the Country Club crowd/the high society" :eyes:

[youthere]

61. My dad was a hard core republican...

and my mom is a "Goldwater" republican..which means she votes almost a straight democratic ticket every year.

[Hippo_Tron]

62. Dad's a Democrat and huge Bush hater, but...

We still argue about some things. I'm against the death penalty and he's for it. Also, even though he never voted for Reagan, he thinks that Carter should have carpet-bombed Iran during the hostage crisis. I try to convince him that Carter's brilliance in his patience and rational thought and his ability to ultimately solve the situation without having to kill anyone. He says that he should have just ended the situation and that the lives of a few thousand Persians don't matter because they are uncivilized.

[treestar]

63. Always Democrats

Dad repeatedly says he cannot understand why any working man would vote Republican.

[Hosnon]

65. I don't know how to answer that. Is "Independent" a party now or a method of voting?

They've pretty much voted how they want: Bush I, Clinton, Nader, Kerry...

[kevinbgoode]

66. Mine were red. . .but now they are true blue. . .

they've certainly transformed over the years. . .