Westside Story – International Survey, Trump or Clinton?

For decades we have been beneficiaries of information garnered from professional political surveys and citizen poles such as the Gallup Poll, Real Clear Politics and USA Today.

I recently established a new political pole called, The Suburban Times International Political Pole known by the acronym, TSTIPP, phonetically pronounced tistipp.

Most poles provide an accuracy or error percentage disclosure which includes a plus or minus small percentage number such as 4%. This small percentage represents the factor for errors in the poling process.

It is reasonable expectation that TSTIPP would make a professional disclosure regarding the accuracy of our poling process. The Suburban Times Political Pole is accurate with a plus or minus 100% mostly based on our not knowing what we are talking about.

Round trip, Seattle to Norway via Iceland for international political pole.

While recently traveling through Iceland and Norway I decided I would conduct a political pole related to our 2016 presidential election.

My survey included the following three questions.

1. Where are you from?
2. When I return to America, who do you want me to vote for, Trump or Clinton?
3. Why?

I interviewed people from Iceland, Norway, Germany, England, New Deli, India, Ukraine, Hungary, Spain, Ireland, Australia and our own state of Michigan, to name a few locations.

The overwhelming verbal and body language response (98%) was, DON’T VOTE FOR TRUMP! Some of their comments as to why are recorded below.

COMMENTS – DO NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP CATEGORY

The answers were amazing and there was an obvious pattern. “Please do not vote for Trump.” Most people were adamant and in fact begged me to not vote for Trump.

Trump is mad.

Trump is erratic.

Trump cannot be trusted.

Trump is dangerous.

Trump wants to be a dictator like North Korea.

Trump can’t make up his mind.

Trump just tells who ever he is with what they want to hear.

Trump has threatened to abandon the Baltic countries. Northern Norway shares a boarder with Russia. Trumps self projected weak relationship with NATO makes Norwegians extremely nervous. If NATO disappears the Russians may appear in Norway like the Nazis back in 1940.

Please vote for any 3rd party candidate, anyone but Clinton and Trump.

Choosing between Trump and Clinton is like choosing between polio and the plague.

A journalism student from Spain I met in a Norwegian sweater shop clasp her hands together into praying hands and exclaimed, “Please do not vote for Trump.”

Clinton 1st woman president. That is good and is a reason to not vote for Trump.

A woman from Hungary told me, “Please do not vote for Trump. He is so scary. Trump does not act or speak like a US president. Hillary is a better choice of two bad choices. How did America ever end up with these two losers?”

A bartender from Spain told me, “Voting for president is impossible. You will have to simply vote for the party of your choice, which is the big picture, and pay no attention the small stuff which is the candidates.”

It is positive that Clinton is a woman. A female president will be a progressive advancement for the US and that is a reason to not vote for Trump.

DO NOT VOTE FOR CLINTON CATEGORY

Clinton is a proven liar. If anyone else pulled some of the stunts Clinton pulled, they would be fired and sent to jail.

Clinton is a cheat.

Please vote for any 3rd party candidate, anyone but Clinton and Trump.

Clinton is a slick politician who cannot be trusted.

Choosing between Trump and Clinton is like choosing between polio and the plague.

VOTE FOR CLINTON CATEGORY

It will be great for America to have their first female president.

COMMENTS – VOTE FOR TRUMP CATEGORY

A man from India, who is Hindu, said, “Trump has a lot of crazy ideas, but inside his basket of ideas are some good ideas. One example is Trump’s threat to stand up hard to ISIS. We need a tough guy as president if America is to survive.”

A woman from Michigan stated she would vote for Trump because Clinton is both deceptive and dishonest.

COMMENTS – GENERAL

Many volunteered that they liked President Obama and what he has accomplished. They thought he could have accomplished more if he had been blessed with more political cooperation.

Many were pleased that we now have our first black president.

Many volunteered they would like me to vote for Bernie Sanders, but realized I could not do that.

Although people outside the United States cannot vote, they pay close attention to the US including our election process. Many expressed their love for the US and that the US is extremely important to them as a world and economic power.

It is not my purpose to tell my readers how to vote. I hold no qualifications or experience that would give me credible justification for influencing your vote. All I am doing is sharing what I consider to be a most interesting social experiment in the form of a man or woman on the street political survey pole.

I have heard US citizens suggest that because our presidential election is so messed up, they are not going to vote. I am tempted to join them.

On second thought, I submit that if we look at the big picture, not voting, will become a form of voting. For many, there is no easy voting choice when faced with the alternatives of dictator or crook, madman or cheat, hater or slick politician.

The only thing we can do is vote for the candidate we find the least repulsive. Once elected, no matter how bad it is, the US will muddle through four years. More likely than not, there will be some law breaking, scandal and sexual impropriety involving our next president.

Something is definitely wrong if all we have to choose from is Clinton and Trump, but that cannot stop our right to vote.

Readers, be sure to vote on November 8, 2016.

White House staff, be sure to keep an eye on the silverware.