Libertarians vote both ways, increasingly voting Democrat in recent years (i.e. 2004 - 2008):
https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6735
In the Obama administration, Libertarians have started moving back to voting for the Republican party, possibly because of the whole "big government" position of Obama, and the fact that the tea party are considered a growing movement within the republican party, with a "small government" message.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa658.pdf
Interestingly, during the Clinton administration, votes were split almost evenly between republicans and democrats.
One possible reason why Libertarians in America vote for economic issues over social issues is that the constitution of the US supports most social issues from the outset; the various civil rights battles are not won by voting different parties into office, but are instead decided by the courts. The constitution on the other hand, says very little about economic policy. It may very well be (and I admit I'm only guessing here) that Libertarians in America choose to vote on economic issues because they believe that the various social issues that they support (i.e. gay marriage, abortion, etc) will be sorted out via constitutional lawyers rather than government intervention.
https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6735
In the Obama administration, Libertarians have started moving back to voting for the Republican party, possibly because of the whole "big government" position of Obama, and the fact that the tea party are considered a growing movement within the republican party, with a "small government" message.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa658.pdf
Interestingly, during the Clinton administration, votes were split almost evenly between republicans and democrats.
One possible reason why Libertarians in America vote for economic issues over social issues is that the constitution of the US supports most social issues from the outset; the various civil rights battles are not won by voting different parties into office, but are instead decided by the courts. The constitution on the other hand, says very little about economic policy. It may very well be (and I admit I'm only guessing here) that Libertarians in America choose to vote on economic issues because they believe that the various social issues that they support (i.e. gay marriage, abortion, etc) will be sorted out via constitutional lawyers rather than government intervention.
