Thread:Comments:United States re-elects Barack Obama/A truly terrible day, IMO./reply (2)

Well, maybe people don't know. It's a fact that many non-politically inclined people (the vast majority of the American public) are likely to vote for the candidate they see as more charismatic, youthful, likable, and empathetic toward the middle class (1960 televised debates, anyone?). Politics aside, Barack Obama is all or most of these. Mitt Romney doesn't have a silver tongue, isn't youthful, and struggled with personal likability for much of the campaign. Obama's both more charismatic and more likable. But here's my general rule of thumb: I vote for the guy who's most qualified to run the country and is politically like-minded, not the guy who I'd rather watch the game with. And it might so happen that the guy I vote for has both of these, but the second one is most certainly not make or break (as it seems to be for so many voters).