I did some canvassing yesterday for Mark Schauer and Gary Peters......

[marmar]

...... the Democratic candidates for governor and U.S. Senate, respectively, here in Michigan this November.

One theme became abundantly clear: Anger and disgust toward the two major parties (yes, both of them) is widespread. I was in a working- to working middle class suburb of Detroit with lots of union members, one that tends to vote for Democrats but where the majority of the voters identify as independents and there's a good number of Republicans.
At almost every door: "I'm sick of all of them." "They're all liars." "None of them are looking out for everyday people."
Most of the Democratic households identified getting rid of Tricky Ricky Snyder as their top priority, but could identify very little that they liked about Schauer. The Republicans who said they were voting for Snyder almost universally said there's a lot they don't like about him. And there were lots of people who were undecided and dissatisfied with their choices.
I read lots of stats about Americans' unhappiness with Congress, and canvassing kind of crystallized it for me.
As one Democratic voter, whose big issue was women's rights, said, "But we're not really voting for anybody these days, right? We're voting against someone."
Sadly, the (corporately sponsored) tone deafness of the party leadership won't hear her.

[MineralMan]

1. What you describe isn't uncommon at all.

I get some of that, too, when doing precinct canvassing. My response is to know, in detail, what all of the candidates endorsed by the DFL party in Minnesota are about. When someone tells me they're all awful, I can counter that by telling them about one or more candidates who will support them if elected.

I start by asking people I talk to what issues are the most important to them and what they would like to see happen regarding those issues. Then, I can point out what candidates have said about those exact issues. It's a conversation. Often the dissatisfaction is a general thing, and is based on a lack of information. I'm there to help with supplying the information about the candidates I'm supporting.

Thanks for doing canvassing!

[IdaBriggs]

2. Gary Peters is my Representative, so voting him into the Senate

is going to be a no-brainier. I don't know much about Mark Schauer.

I want a yard sign: Vote Democrat - Republican = Crazy.

Thank you for walking the walk!