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Please clarify. This sentence talks about the future event

"Which political party would you vote for in the 2019 assembly elections?"

If we talk about the future that can happen, why would somebody use "would"? can we use "will" in the above sentence in the place of "Would"

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  • Using would suggests if: "...if you were given the chance," perhaps; or "would you like to vote for". Just would on its own seems unidiomatic.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Jul 1, 2017 at 10:10
  • In addition to Andrew's 'implied conditionals' (I'd add 'if the situation then were what we face now', which is not too well thought out but usually what people have in mind), the use of 'would' is more hedged, less challenging than 'will'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 1, 2017 at 10:15

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Would has multiple definitions.

It CAN be the past tense of "will". However, it can also express the conditional mood. This is the case in your sentence.

Putting will instead of would, while still grammatically correct, changes the meaning. Would has a lower modality than will because it suggests a condition (that is not present in the sentence). As a result, the question is less confronting.

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This is a conditional sentence with the condition being implied. One obvious condition being "if the 2019 election were being held today, which candidate would you vote for."

Strictly speaking, the question "which candidate will you vote for in 2019" should elicit at least some answers along the lines of "It depends on what happens over the next two years."

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