How strongly do you support your favorite political candidates?

I’ve shared a few times my affection for “ purple people “ — those that are willing to vote for candidates that will best serve us, rather than just blindly voting their party line. In every election, every time, there are some pretty bad characters on both sides of the aisle. How you act regarding those politicians will often impact my view of you more than my view of them.

I really see it two ways:

• If you are someone that I know and trust, and you offer rational thoughts about a candidate, I’ll consider them. Even if it’s someone I don’t personally support, a reasonable argument from someone I trust can go a long way. Despite memes to the contrary, my political views have shifted a bit over the years thanks to solid words from solid people.
• On the other hand, if your support for a candidate is mostly yelling and name-calling, I’m not really sure who that it supposed to help. I’ll probably have even less support for that candidate, and likely a lower opinion of you as well.

If you think this post is directed at you or your favorite politician, it’s really not. There are dozens of people running in the upcoming races that could be considered a “bad character”, and this applies to all of them. I know people that can offer solid arguments in favor of virtually…