I’m still not sure I understand what “straight Democratic tickets” mean. Is it people who only voted Democratic before and this was their first time voting Republican?
No, it means they only vote for the candidates from their party.
Generally American voters are either Republican or Democrat (or Independent, like me), and they generally vote for all the candidates from their party. Not always, sometimes there’s a candidate from you party that you particularly hate for some reason, or a candidate from the other party that you like, but generally people vote for their own party. That’s a “straight party ticket.”
The ballot always includes much more than just the presidential race. Every two years, every member of the House of Representatives runs for reelection. Every six years, Senators run. Governors are running, along with a lot of other state seats like state legislatures. Then there are municipal races for your county and city - mayors, councilmen, school board, tax collector, clerk of courts, judges, dog catcher, etc.
So if someone is a strong party voter, they’ll just vote a “Straight Ticket,” with every vote for their own party. In the old days, with the old voting machines, there was even a switch you could flip as soon as you started, that would automatically cast your party vote for every race, so you didn’t have to flip 20 switches.
So it would be really weird for someone to be such a strong Democratic voter that they check off every Democratic box, and then cast their presidential vote for Trump. I could see them voting for their Republican neighbor for dog catcher, because he’s kind to animals, but generally, the higher the election goes, the more likely you are to vote for YOUR party.
The idea that someone would vote a straight Democratic ticket, then vote for Trump as president, makes no plausible sense at all. Worse, literally nobody from either party has questioned it at all.
No, it means they only vote for the candidates from their party.
Generally American voters are either Republican or Democrat (or Independent, like me), and they generally vote for all the candidates from their party. Not always, sometimes there’s a candidate from you party that you particularly hate for some reason, or a candidate from the other party that you like, but generally people vote for their own party. That’s a “straight party ticket.”
The ballot always includes much more than just the presidential race. Every two years, every member of the House of Representatives runs for reelection. Every six years, Senators run. Governors are running, along with a lot of other state seats like state legislatures. Then there are municipal races for your county and city - mayors, councilmen, school board, tax collector, clerk of courts, judges, dog catcher, etc.
So if someone is a strong party voter, they’ll just vote a “Straight Ticket,” with every vote for their own party. In the old days, with the old voting machines, there was even a switch you could flip as soon as you started, that would automatically cast your party vote for every race, so you didn’t have to flip 20 switches.
So it would be really weird for someone to be such a strong Democratic voter that they check off every Democratic box, and then cast their presidential vote for Trump. I could see them voting for their Republican neighbor for dog catcher, because he’s kind to animals, but generally, the higher the election goes, the more likely you are to vote for YOUR party.
The idea that someone would vote a straight Democratic ticket, then vote for Trump as president, makes no plausible sense at all. Worse, literally nobody from either party has questioned it at all.