Every year or two, Americans come together to take part in the state's favorite sacrament: voting. There are candidates (often at least two) representing the major parties in the US, and the voters cast a vote for one of them. But, while one votes on a relatively regular basis, it is much more rare for one to actually be excited about or want to support the candidate they are voting for. So, if it is rare that one actually has a candidate which they want to support, then who are they voting for during all those election cycles in-between?
A Vote Against
Most often, when people go to vote, they are voting against the worst candidate. They see multiple candidates and choose the one who is least-worst. From a utilitarian standpoint, this makes sense. The idea is that you should support whoever will impact your life in the least-worst way.
This concept of "voting against" makes perfect sense in the mind of the voter. Afterword, when asked who they voted for, they will often say, "Well, I just voted against [insert worst candidate]." Having made a utilitarian decision as to who the worst candidates were, they chose the best of the bunch. But, the whole concept of the "vote against" evaporates once the vote is actually counted.
It's All About The Numbers
Regardless of one's intentions when casting a vote, when the results of the voting are counted, there will only be votes-for. Candidate A will have so may votes next to their name and Candidates B and C will have so many votes next to theirs. There is no category or list of votes-against. All that will be in that list is the number of people who supported each candidate.
If your candidate--the best of the worst--got in, you could consider that a win, since on the utilitarian scale that candidate was best. But the sticky fact of the matter is that the numbers don't die there. They have a life which extends beyond the current election cycle and can be used for years go come.
Parties Use the Numbers
Political parties like numbers. Well, really, they LOVE numbers. They want to see lots of people voting for them. When the election is complete, the parties will be going over all the numbers, all the votes, all the demographics, and any other data they can find. But in the midst of all those numbers, the numbers they won't be able to see are the votes-against.
When they see that x number of people voted for their party's candidates, they will necessarily see that as x number of people supported their party's platform. There might be those who assume that some of those votes were actually votes-against, but there is no way to actually quantify or record that.
It does not matter whether or not you hate the party's platform and voted for their candidate only because you hated the other candidate more. That makes no difference in the end. All that the party can see is the number of votes which they received. And if they won, they will see that as a stamp of approval on their platform and their policies. This will encourage them to continue pushing those platforms and policies year after year. And, when you or others push back against them, they will point to the numbers and say, "Look, the American people are behind us! If they were not on board, they would not have voted for our candidates."
Let me say it one more time, your motivation in voting for a candidate has no bearing on how the party will interpret the results. All they will see are the votes-for their candidates.
Politicians Use The Numbers
Just as parties can only see the votes-for their candidates, the candidates themselves can only see the votes they received. If they received the most votes, then they won.
It does not matter if you were voting against another candidate, all the newly-elected politician will see are the votes-for which will necessarily be taken as votes of support for themselves and their platform/policies.
When there is pushback against their policies, they will use their numbers as proof that the American people are behind them. And, when they run for re-election they will likely push again for those policies which previously led them to a win.
Let me give an example to further illustrate the difference between a vote-for and a vote-against.
There Is No Dislike Button In Politics
When Facebook was created, there was an option to like posts. This was useful, and people would often like the posts they enjoyed. But, this became a problem since not every post was something people wanted to like. Sometimes they wanted to share a reaction, but like did not sum it up accurately. In that situation, what did people do?
Well, let me tell you what people did not do. It would have been absurd to see a post you did not like, and then to show your disapproval for that post you go and find another post which you dislike less and give it a like. Without a dislike button, giving a like to another post would be seen for exactly what it was on paper, a like. The person who created that second post would not see your like and say, "Oh, these likes are probably because they did not like another post over there." That would make no sense! When they saw a dozen likes for their post, they would take that as a dozen people liking their post!
There Is No Vote-Against
In the same way that there was no dislike button on Facebook, there is no vote-against button when voting. All you have is a like or a vote to give a candidate. And, when that candidate gets into office, he/she and their party will use those votes as stamps of approval of themselves and their platform/policies.
Conclusion
Regardless of your motivations in voting for a candidate, your vote will be taken as a vote of approval. There is no vote-against in real life. So, if you vote for a candidate whose platform includes a number of really good things, but also a few horrible things, your vote was actually supporting both, and if the candidate follows through on those horrible things, you are implicitly responsible for those. When it comes down to it, your motivation in voting means nothing. All that you have is a vote-for a candidate, so be very careful who you give your stamp of approval to, it's your conscience on the line.