but I don't think I'm painting EVERYONE with the same brush......
You will note I said "the average Dominican" - meaning those who work for the "average wage" in the DR. Those that I know who are among the "rich" certainly aren't going to vote for 'his baldness' (they didn't last time either!), nor are the "middle" class who have lost so much during this past administration.
However try to have an intelligent,politically oriented conversation with almost anyone in Guayacanes (who are overwhelmingly voting BLANCO) or with the maid, the gardener, the plumber,the electrician, the carpenter, the mechanic etc in Juan Dolio and the conversation will usually end with you banging your head against the wall because " todo 'tan ladrones - no es importante qui es presidente. son todo lo mismo" (pardon my poor Spanish!).
THEN ask the question I posed!! You'll get the same answer every time.
It is NOT a trick question if asked in a serious context and anyone I've asked before to make a point has always answered "they both weigh the same" and then chuckled when they realized the point I had just made!!
Somehow they can't understand that altho' platano was a half a peso each during the last gov't and is now 7 pesos each they believe what 'Hippo" has told them-
'the dollar has gone up' even tho' we tell them it hasn't really (ours had but the US$ hadn't) -it's because the peso has GONE DOWN!
Ask why a platano that is grown locally would cost more because the "dollar has gone up"!!
As a joke at a barbeque in Guayacanes, just before we left to come back to Canada, we stuck a purple "Leonel" sticker on the inside of the bathroom door - pandemonium broke loose when the first person after it was placed used the facilities!! There was almost a lynching until it was made plain that WE had placed it as a joke (the owner of the premises is a staunch Hippo supporter even tho' he isn't on the gov't payroll and has seen his income devalued as much as everyone elses').
So like CC has so often said or implied' if the Dominicans can't see the folly' why should I feel guilty about enjoying the added purchasing power MY $$ has??
It will be interesting to see WHO DOES win May 16th (while I hope it's purple my money is betting on a white win!!)