Since the debate, what have you seen from friends?

[eclaires]

Especially if you live in a red area... Facebook? IRL?

I am just curious because my Facebook and friend groups have exploded with anti-Trump sentiment and articles.

I think the debate may have been the nail in the coffin for many of them, or it may have been the cover they needed to speak out about how unqualified he is because it was a very stark contrast. I think had he had a good performance where he showed a better grasp of issues or like he knew anything about the job he was applying for, people might not be as willing to debate their friends and family or let them know how they were voting. It's one thing to theoretically be okay with a president who has no political experience or background but the debate showed how truly outmatched he is and was a direct comparison of the two choices that people can point to and there's really no "but she did this!" when pointing out his flaws.

Also I am in TN, and I have no delusions we will ever be in play but I am shocked by the number of people I know who are voting for Hillary. Pretty staunch conservatives - one who cannot stand Hillary and is arguing on Facebook for voting for her right now.

I'm like...

[candreco]

I'm seeing mostly people who supported Clinton being slightly more vocal, people who were for Sanders getting on the reality train and supporting Clinton, not really any Trump supporters, and still a decent number who actively dislike both and are undecided about even voting at all.

The last group is killing me, but I'm trying to gear my political FB posts toward recognizing that while neither candidate is perfect, Clinton's flaws are pretty inconsequential compared to Trump's message of hate, fear, greed, and bigotry, and that the long-term effects of a Trump presidency will be hugely damaging for this country.

[wambam]

I saw a giant, knock down, drag out fight on FB that started with a self-proclaimed Christian who is "definitely not a feminist" making the statement "I hope HRC burns in hell." And they were slinging shit like I haven't seen on FB, maybe ever. It was 100+ comments long.

[One Girl In All The World]

Most of my fb feed people are HRC supporters. Some weren't very outspoken one way or another until now. A couple sanders people who have either said they will hold their nose and vote for her (and hate themselves doing it) or are starting to hint that they will go that way. A couple others are fully behind her now. If anyone on my friends list is pro-trump I must have hidden them long ago.

[ECB]

I have largely liberal, Hillary supporters on my FB feed, it appears. There are a few people who I know are Rs. One out and out has said she's voting Trump (this was a few months ago and she's been SILENT about it ever since, so I wonder if she's realizing what an ass he is. WIshful thinking.). But the people who have posted Trump-like stuff in the past have also been SILENT since the debate.

I'd like to think this is telling. But who knows.

[OscarQ]

Not in a red state but a friend who lives in Texas posted an article in favor of HRC after the debate. The comments were mostly her non-red state friends supporting it but that was after some heinous woman posted a long comment detailing all of HRCs failings including Benghazi (automatic idiot marker for me) and how's she's for late term abortions. And then this person twisted the knife by saying that my friend should know better about late term abortions since she'd had a preemie and shouldn't that make her see how precious all life is?

I give my friend a lot of credit. She very calmly responded to the points and said that in fact, her experience with her both her preemie daughters proved to her that all such decisions on reproduction and childbirth should be left to the woman/couple and her/their doctors.

A couple red state people chimed in then saying how much they dislike both but respect my friends opinion and are having a hard time deciding who to vote for/against.

[iammalcolmx]

H's wanna be redneck cousin posted some shit mad people were posting about the debate and told everyone to go fuck themselves. At that point I decided to unfriend him and then he deleted all those posts.

[CallingAllAngels]

I live in a red area (outside of Charlotte) and my FB is overwhelmingly anti-Trump, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's pro-Hillary.

[darnkatz]

I unfriended my brother on FB. He tagged me in a racist meme to goad me. I should have gotten rid of him a long time ago. I hardly ever speak to him or see him because he is an asshole.

I haven't seen much else. Most of the vocal people are HRC supporters.

[KateAggie]

I had one who linked an "article" (I use that lightly) to Hillary = churches being closed down. And the comments literally said that she is Satan. Most of what I see are "likes". And it's mostly anti HRC stuff. Which tells me people are voting against her and a few, just totally anti Dem. I truly, truly don't get that level of hate. Spiteful voting.

[Velar Fricative]

None of the Trump supporters I see on FB are stating that he won, or stating their unyielding support of him like they used to. But they're not coming out for Hillary either. Most of them have been saying things like, "Look at these two crappy choices we have!"

[BaliHai]

I have the people who are voting Trump hidden from my Timeline, but there has been quite a "they're both equally bad, we're doomed either way" response from people who will not vote Trump but who are probably not going to vote at all. It genuinely confuses me. Even if you don't like Hillary for whatever reason, really that you're going to try saying she's as bad as he is?

[penguingrrl]

A lot of mine have switched from praising Trump and insulting Hillary to just insulting Hillary without praising Trump. I think they do realize how horrendous he is now, they're just so stupid they somehow still think she's worse.

[earlgreyhot]

My entire FB feed is blue with only a couple of Bernie holdouts.

My mom and I are still going at it. And despite my presentation all my quote and evidence mom is hanging with "my fellow deplorables"

To which, I just had to reply: "hope Hillary wins, but I guess if she doesn't I'll enjoy the 'I told you so' when You realize Trump is a disaster."

[jojoandleo]

I got rid of all my vocal Trump supports-sorry not sorry. I know there are some silent supporters on there, though.

I have seen a few "They both suck." And a few "There is another option! GARY JOHNSON!" posts. All the former "Never Hillary" Berners in my liberal OK group are NOW team Hillary, but begrudgingly.

I have mainly seen a lot of people talking about how ridiculous it is to defriend over POLITICS! I mean, CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG!?! Sorry, no. This isn't just politics. Trump is NOT a Republican. This is NOT a case of simple policy disagreements. This is a case where a man is calling Mexican rapists, wanting to ban Muslims, talking about how great Putin is-he is dangerous. When Hitler was elected, was it just politics? Fuck off. Love, the girl married to a man who is Persian, Hispanic and Japanese.

[mbcdefg]

I live in a really blue area of a blue state - I've had very few people directly say that Trump is their choice (my batshit crazy cousin comes to mind but that's about it), but I've had a lot of people on my friends list posting that Clinton is awful. Now that the first debate is over there's been a lot of, "Well, Trump and Clinton are equally awful!" OK, then *eyeroll*

I've also had a lot of die-hard Bernie supporters posting lately that we cannot afford any protest votes, and that Clinton - regardless of how you may feel about her personally - is clearly more experienced and prepared for the presidency than Trump could ever be. 

Most people I know IRL who talk about voting Trump are LEOs who've drank the Kool Aid about Clinton being 100% against the police 

[swsaradee]

The Trump supporters have been mainly quiet, but I do have a few posting anti-HRC/Dem things. I unfollowed a lot of people so I think I am not seeing the worst offenders. I am seeing a lot more Gary Johnson support though.

[eclaires]

My Facebook feed was relatively silent on politics before the debate (outside of my gbcn friends and other politically aware people) and I just ASSumed the silent people either weren't voting or were holding their nose and voting for one of the candidates since generally most people around here are Rs. And because I am only sort of friends with most of them because of PTA and our kids I didn't feel like I knew well enough to say one way or the other. I kind of just prepared myself for them all to be assholes and I was wrong.

Seriously my mind is blown by the active arguing in favor of Hillary.

[Deleted]

Most of the vocal Trump supporters have shut up or they have me blocked from seeing their Facebook posts. I do still have a few family members who post ridiculous Trump memes then get all stupid when I say something. "He's better than Killary! It's America and I'm entitled to my ooooopinion!!" Then they go dark for a few weeks so they can pretend they didn't see my questions because they're too stupid to form a coherent response.

On the upside, they also avoid talking politics at family gatherings now, because basic questions are really hard for them.

One of them posted a fake news site about Obama one day and when I pointed it out they were all "no, I think it's real, I know it is! I believe it!" They are insane.

[andwhat]

I think I have mostly Clinton supporters. The Sanders supporters are coming out strong with the vote for Clinton message. The one person who was going to vote for Trump as the lesser of the evils has decided he is too awful to vote for. I am not sure what changed his mind. He has also decided that Johnson is an idiot with the Aleppo incident and some interview where he is sticking out his tongue. So he is not voting for any of the 4, but will be voting down ballot.

[twotrue]

I'm rarely on FB these days but I'm sick of my coworkers saying that both choices are awful. I guess I might tolerate it better if they could give legit reasons for HRC being awful, bit they just don't like her. It's work though, so we don't really get into it.

[jillboston]

My very conservative co-worker (68 year old grandfather former banker) stopped defending/supporting Trump after the Khan incident. He agrees that Trump got his clocked cleaned Monday. He won't vote for Trump but I am certain he won't for for HRC.

I follow our local NPR station's local Republican commentator Todd Domke on Twitter - he apparently loathes Trump and just posts non-stop anti-Trump stuff wall to wall.

[KateAggie]

Sept 29, 2016 7:59:52 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

A lot of mine have switched from praising Trump and insulting Hillary to just insulting Hillary without praising Trump. I think they do realize how horrendous he is now, they're just so stupid they somehow still think she's worse.

I don't think it's (all) stupidity. People are entrenched and defensive. The message out there, for quite awhile, has been about how dumb Rs are, how they can't see what's best for them, how they are hypocrites, etc. It has deeply affected how once reasonable Rs see the D party. And then the D candidate is one that they deep distrust, whether rightfully or not. It's kind of a "can't see the forest for the trees" scenario. They are so "I will never vote for a party that thinks so little of me." Comments like "clinging to their religion and their guns," and "basketball deplorables" furthers this divide. If only it were as simple as stupidity.

ETA: Basketball deplorables is thanks to autocorrect. But it's too funny to change.

[gretchenindisguise]

Quietness.

One Republican friend posted begrudgingly that Hillary won the debate. Everyone else was crickets.

Mom sent me the AZ Republic article yesterday and said she agrees with everything in it and it was the best written article. I told her it was everything I've been saying since this whole thing began. She agreed and apologized and said she was wrong. She never admits she's wrong, especially in politics and especially in this race where she started as a Berner. It felt like a big win.

[penguingrrl]

Sept 29, 2016 8:23:38 GMT -5 KateAggie said:

Sept 29, 2016 7:59:52 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

A lot of mine have switched from praising Trump and insulting Hillary to just insulting Hillary without praising Trump. I think they do realize how horrendous he is now, they're just so stupid they somehow still think she's worse.

I don't think it's (all) stupidity. People are entrenched and defensive. The message out there, for quite awhile, has been about how dumb Rs are, how they can't see what's best for them, how they are hypocrites, etc. It has deeply affected how once reasonable Rs see the D party. And then the D candidate is one that they deep distrust, whether rightfully or not. It's kind of a "can't see the forest for the trees" scenario. They are so "I will never vote for a party that thinks so little of me." Comments like "clinging to their religion and their guns," and "basketball deplorables" furthers this divide. If only it were as simple as stupidity.

ETA: Basketball deplorables is thanks to autocorrect. But it's too funny to change.

That's a fair point. I think that most Rs are intelligent and reasonable people with some truly stupid people in the mix (my neighbors who I discussed the other day are very much the stupid ones). I just feel like you can't be intelligent and support Trump. And I am quite certain this is the case where I would put country over party and hold my nose.

[EllieArroway]

I'm in a red state. Most of my friends are conservative, and I haven't seen any of them say anything positive about Trump since the debate. They're either staying quiet or posting about how depressing it is that one of the two will be our next president.

[wambam]

Oh and also, my Trump-supporter coworker hasn't looked at me in 2 weeks

[newnamesameperson]

I'm in a normally RED as it gets state that could become a swing state this election.

I have a few people who are voting for Gary Johnson, but I think they tend to vote Republican in general.
I saw one person had mentioned Trump won the debate with 69 people liking it. I don't really need to be fb friends with this person, but I kind of want to see what people post on her wall about the debates and so forth.
Everyone else has stayed quite, but if I had to guess there are tons voting for Trump from high school.

I've seen a few snippets of support for HRC, but not enough to make me jump for joy. In general, it has been really quiet.

[pixy0stix]

I think most of the Rs in my feed are voting Johnson or HRC. All the Trump supporters have unfriended me. I'm not upset by that in the least.

ETA: All the Rs that I know that I'm not FB friends with are voting for HRC.

[2doxies]

I'm in PA. The friends I have that were Berners are now talking about volunteering for Hillary. The Trump people that I know are never going to be swayed. They have been buying into the anti-Clinton message for the past two decades and there is no way they would be persuaded to vote for her. It's a shame, because I think if they could take their emotions out of the equation they could see that Trump is ruining their party. He's not a conservative in any sense of the word. But they're too frightened of what will happen if Hillary wins and feel like not voting R is a vote for D.

I do, however, feel like every woman my age who I'm friends with on FB had a strong, visceral reaction to the way that Trump spoke to Hillary during the debate. I saw a lot of comments, memes and articles referencing the mansplaining.