• @Feathercrown@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    52 months ago

    I’m glad you’re sending a message about the two-party system in a way that actually matters. Voting third party in a state that will never change is like, the one time it’s safe and effective to do that.

    • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      22 months ago

      Exactly, yet I get so much pushback on that.

      Yes, if your state has any chance of flipping, choose the lesser of two evils. And don’t just look at the last election, look at the last 5 or so. If any of them were anywhere near close, vote for the lesser of two evils. Or if your state is trending toward being competitive, vote for the lesser of two evils. If you’re not willing to check, vote for the lesser of two evils.

      But if your state consistently votes a certain way with a huge margin, then vote your conscience. For me, that’s the most popular third party.

      • @piccolo@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        72 months ago

        believing your state is hard locked in one party is exactly the mindset that makes it hard locked. My state is ‘hard red’ but it wasn’t always like that. California was a solid red state but no longer is. Until we have ranked voting, we’re stuck with two parties at the federal level. Voting 3rd is only serves to signal to the majority parties where to not waste their energy.

        • @Fox@pawb.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 months ago

          Donald Trump actually showed up to the Libertarian National Convention, I don’t think such an arrogant dickwad would have bothered if he didn’t think it was important to appeal to third party voters. They already spend less time in their ‘safe’ states.

        • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -1
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Voting 3rd is only serves to signal to the majority parties where to not waste their energy.

          No, voting 3rd shows that voters are more willing to “throw their vote away” than support either major party candidate. If the minority candidate wants to snap up some of those votes, they’ll need to adjust their policies to at least bring in some of the top third party candidate’s views. The closer they get to those third parties, the more of those votes they’ll get.

          If my state gets within a 10% spread, I’ll probably start voting for the lesser of two evils (in this case Harris). But when the spread is going to be something like 4x the total votes for all third parties combined (something like 5%; vote spread for major party candidates is typically >20%), there’s literally no value in supporting either major party candidate.