A new poll suggests that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is drawing more voters from former President Donald Trump than from Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to a Noble Predictive Insights survey released last week, Harris holds a narrow lead over Trump in a hypothetical three-way race. With Stein on the ballot, Harris’ lead expands, pointing to a potential spoiler effect similar to what many Democrats blamed Stein for doing to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

For Trump, the emergence of Stein as a potential spoiler may be a critical factor in battleground states, where even a small shift in votes could determine the outcome. For Harris, Stein’s candidacy could paradoxically provide an unexpected advantage, drawing votes from Trump and narrowing his pathway to victory.

    • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      34
      ·
      1 day ago

      What’s with .ml obsession with stein anyhow? Is it the links to Putin? I don’t get it.

      • basmati@lemmus.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        23 hours ago

        Green party is the most progressive party that has access to 400+ electoral votes. Anyone that wants to participate in the farce would want to vote for them. And Dr Stein pisses off right wingers like no one else, which is a plus.

        • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          15 hours ago

          Why do Right wingers get pissed off at Stein? I do not get it. The main attack ads I have seen towards the Dr. come from the Democrats. Who try to sell her as a Spoiler candidate who is seemingly pro Putin – although no serious proof is given outside insinuations-- and also as proxy vote for Trump, because she takes away possible Dem votes.

          Is it right wingers who dislike Trump?

      • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        24 hours ago

        This has to be bait. You can’t possibly think people think that way, right? .ml people disagree with NATO-sphere liberals about a lot of things to do with Russia, but that’s not the same as being mindless Russian chauvinists.

        Like, do you really think whatever meetings she had with Putin or whatever it is you blue rags gossip about would be a bigger factor than her opposing the genocide in Gaza, to say nothing of having better climate policies, better immigration policies, and so on?

        “But she won’t win”

        Obviously, but her shaking Putin’s hand won’t change that. His apparent trick of buying a miniscule number of highly-targeted Facebook ads isn’t gonna do much for her, so we need to accept that assumption either way.

        I’m voting for PSL, not Greens, btw.

        • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          12 hours ago

          I love the assumption that .ml people have to take a purity test with political leaning check boxes and receive a manual of how to think while using the instance. Not, you know, just a larger instance that’s popular that anyone on the internet can make an account on. Also love how lemmy has a more progressive stance on calling out bigotry in all it’s forms, but somehow popularly encourages instance bashing with upvotes.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        14 hours ago

        Little known fact. The .ml server is run out of an old Soviet bunker in Leningrad, powered entirely by burning copies of the Victims of Communism leaflets in a converted T-34.

  • Ledivin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    52
    ·
    1 day ago

    Insanity. Anyone willing to switch to Stein should be at least as willing to switch to Harris. Someone get this goddamned grifter out of politics

    • Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      43
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      1 day ago

      democracy enjoyers when people vote for candidates that better represent their positions: 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

      • Ledivin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        27
        ·
        edit-2
        1 day ago

        I’m sorry that I live in reality and like to focus on actual outcomes instead the little butterflies I get when I make empty idealistic speeches.

        Getting Trump elected better represents your position? Then by all means - that’s the only thing your vote can actually accomplish in her bucket.

          • zurohki@aussie.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            11
            arrow-down
            23
            ·
            1 day ago

            Voting third party under the US system doesn’t improve society so, like you, the meme kind of misses the point.

            • Arelin@lemmy.zip
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              15
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              1 day ago

              Voting third party under the US system in the imperial core* doesn’t improve society

              FTFY. Organizing and direct action gets concessions

            • basmati@lemmus.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              11
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              1 day ago

              So don’t vote is your message. As a PSL voter I agree, but i want you to internalize what you’re saying.

      • Grapho@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        Español
        arrow-up
        28
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        1 day ago

        Donald Trump is a threat to democracy 😭😭😭 now shut up and vote for the candidate, peasant. You’ll have a primary when you earn it.

        • Lightor@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          8 hours ago

          I love how the ml community plays off how big a threat Trump is. History repeating itself.

          • Grapho@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            Español
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 hours ago

            Everyone knows that he’s a fascist. We also know Kamala and her cabinet is gonna be hardly better, so if you’re gonna vote, don’t waste it on a genocide enabler.

            We already know all the talking points of “pushing her left”, we know y’all ain’t gonna do shit, because you didn’t do it with Biden and you certainly wouldn’t have done it with Obama, it’s always people who voted third party out there organizing while y’all wait for the next election to come around for you to pretend you’re doing something.

      • Lightor@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        8 hours ago

        My best friend best represents my position but voting for him does nothing. Rigid morals that have no impact on improving anything are pointless.

      • Ledivin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        19
        ·
        1 day ago

        Democracy enjoyers understand that this version of democracy doesn’t care about third parties 🤷‍♂️ vote for the lesser evil and campaign locally for vote reform

              • Ledivin@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                9 hours ago

                No, or at least not at the federal level, that’s why I saying to campaign locally for vote reform.

                Vote reform is needed because first past the post is a bad system. Third party candidates are pointless because of the first past the post system. You can acknowledge that the system is broken and work towards fixing it while still making a choice that has an actual effect.

                You know that Trump is a worse option, and you know that voting for a leftist third party will make it easier for him to be elected. These are simple facts. You can either choose to use the information or ignore it and prioritize your feelings. Maybe you don’t have queer friends, or female friends, or minority friends and none of that matters to you 🤷‍♂️

        • sweetpotato@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          19
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          23 hours ago

          I’m not voting for the “lesser evil” when the “lesser evil” commits a genocide. There is no dilemma when we are counting genocides. When do you start realising that both are serving the 1% interests? When does this end - if the dems commit 3 genocides and the republicans 4? If the dems commit 10 and the republicans 11? The red line is long crossed.

          Don’t tell us what to do lmfao.

          • Ledivin@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            11
            ·
            edit-2
            15 hours ago

            Congrats, your actions likely lead to even more Palestinian deaths. Yay, you “took a stand.” The extra dead will be so thankful.

            • sweetpotato@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              14
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              14 hours ago

              It’s so funny that you think the democrats aren’t the genocidal maniacs that have unconditionally supported and armed Israel. It doesn’t get much worse than this, Israel has got literally everything it has asked for lmao. The problem is you thinking they are in any way holding back, but go off. As Joe said, no president has supported Israel as much as I did.

              Tell us how not so evil the democrats, which are funded by the military industrial complex more than the republicans, are. Tell us how they work for our interests, not the oligarchs, please.

              I’ve said this a million times, if the two candidates were Hitler and Hitler again, but he funded a little bit more the healthcare system who would you vote for? None is the answer. When the dilemma consists of ideologies and political/social trajectories that are 100% opposite to your ideal ones, the lesser evil doesn’t exist.

              Don’t blame the dead on the people who have done more than the 99% for the cause, I can’t take you seriously that way. You can blame the oligarchs and the fascists/liberals who don’t care.

              • Ledivin@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                6
                ·
                edit-2
                13 hours ago

                the democrats, which are funded by the military industrial complex more than the republicans

                [citation needed]

                Tell us how they work for our interests, not the oligarchs, please.

                Yes, they’re all oligarchs. Stein included - her net worth is nearly 10x Harris’s and Walz’s combined, you fucking dolt. You’re not moving the needle, you’re just helping a worse candidate gain office.

                I’ve said this a million times, if the two candidates were Hitler and Hitler again, but he funded a little bit more the healthcare system who would you vote for? None is the answer.

                Yes, I would fucking vote for Healthcare Hitler. I don’t care that you feel bad while doing it, i care about what the potential outcomes are. You get hitler either way, why would you not make a choice that leads to a better future?

                You’re so concerned with your own feelings that you’re actively trying to make everyone’s lives worse just so you don’t feel bad. The only positive that your vanity vote provides anyone is that your fragile feelings are protected.

                • Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  7 hours ago

                  sorry, I don’t vote for hitlers :/ if Harris wanted me to vote for her this election, she could’ve run on not being Hitler (as 101,000 uncommitted voters in Michigan, a very important swing state, asked her to), but she didn’t, so I won’t. I really hope her strategy of courting all 6 moderate republicans in the country at the expense of anyone to the left of the party works out, but if 2016 is anything to go off of, it won’t.

          • Ledivin@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            11
            ·
            15 hours ago

            You should try to enact change locally, then. You throwing your vote away doesn’t change what our system is, it just elects the candidate that will kill more people.

            • basmati@lemmus.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              10
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              14 hours ago

              Hey would you look at that, greens and PSL also run local candidates and greens have more than 150 in office.

              Anyway I’m not voting for genocide little buddy. It’s weird you’re trying to convince me to.

              • Ledivin@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                8
                ·
                13 hours ago

                Anyway I’m not voting for genocide little buddy. It’s weird you’re trying to convince me to.

                Keep telling yourself that, friend. A vote for Stein is a vote for a worse genocide. I’m sorry you prioritize your feelings over their lives.

                • basmati@lemmus.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  7
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  13 hours ago

                  There is no worse genocide, that’s not a thing, and I’ve already voted for Claudia. Stein is a fine choice for those that can’t vote for the best candidate though. No one, not one human with a brain and sense of humanity would vote for genocide, so two candidates can be struck off as choices.

            • MisterScruffy@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              3 hours ago

              A third party getting 5% of the nation wide vote qualifies them for federal election funding next election.

              Voting 3rd party is enacting change

        • orcrist@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          15 hours ago

          That’s one opinion, and it certainly has its place, but it also leads to weak candidates like Hillary Clinton. Not surprisingly, if you push weak candidates and argue that we should vote for them because they’re not as bad as the person on the other side, a lot of voters will stay home.

          After all, if you’re going to hell, does it matter if it’s slightly slower or slightly faster? Yeah, it probably does, but that story takes a long time to tell, and many people have short attention spans.

          • Ledivin@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            8
            ·
            edit-2
            15 hours ago

            After all, if you’re going to hell, does it matter if it’s slightly slower or slightly faster

            So you don’t actually care about the people being genocided, just how it affects you? Voting Stein will lead to more Palestinian deaths, and you are explicitly saying that you’re okay with that. Cool. You sound great.

    • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      My wife is one. She voted for Trump in '16. She won’t vote for him again there’s no way she’ll vote for Kamala.

    • Naryn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      22 hours ago

      People are allowed to stand for election without engaging in your idiotic 2 party system

      • Ledivin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        15 hours ago

        You’re allowed to do whatever you want, I just want you to understand that you’re choosing to literally do nothing 🤷‍♂️ you’re not making a stand, you’re not sending a message, and you’re not enacting change. You’re voting for Donald Trump while making yourself feel like you’re fighting an ideological battle.

        • Naryn@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          10 hours ago

          I’m not even fucking American 😂. I just believe that people have the right to stand and vote for a legitimate candidate.

            • Naryn@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              8 hours ago

              Of course they are

              Not being likely to win doesn’t make them illegitimate.

              The UK is a FPTP system with 7.5 significant parties

              • Ledivin@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                2 hours ago

                The UK is a FPTP system with 7.5 significant parties

                … I’m not sure how to break this to you, but the UK is a monarchy and has literally never elected their leader.

                FPTP isn’t nearly as problematic in a system with distributed representation like Parliament, the Senate, or the House. It is massively problematic when electing a singular leader.

                • Naryn@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  12 minutes ago

                  It is massively problematic when electing a singular leader.

                  No, it’s not. That’s how all of the elections you just listed work. That’s how first past the post works.

    • Lightor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Whenever I’m in an ml community I love seeing what’s down voted and why. Always a trip…

  • bigkahuna1986@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    118
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    1 day ago

    I won’t believe a single poll until this election is over. There is so much incentive for misinformation out there it is unbearable. Just get out and vote.

    • DoubleChad@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      edit-2
      12 hours ago

      Alright I’ll bite. I don’t understand this. The word liberal has two meanings: the classical and the colloquial. The latter is indistinguishable from leftist, so I assume you are using the classical form.

      Classical liberals will still blame leftists, like … blue maga wants them to? Who exactly is blue maga? Jill Stein supporters?

      Classical liberals also span the left-right spectrum right now, with many identifying as libertarian. I struggle to see what you are getting at regardless of who blue maga represents, but maybe there is a good point here.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        2 hours ago

        No it’s not indistinguishable from the left, as issues like this show very clearly. That’s just a fiction you’re taught by liberals to fool you into thinking they’re on your side.

      • knightly [none/use any]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        12 hours ago

        “Blue MAGA” are the Democrats who think their shit doesn’t stink and love to insist that any vote that doesn’t go to Harris is a vote for Trump.

        Classical Liberals are right-wing. Yes, this includes the Democrats and non-Socialist Libertarians.

      • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Words can have different colloquial meanings. There is a really crass meaning of liberal that would identify Marx as a liberal, yes, and this is the most popular one in America, but there’s another colloquial meaning (more popular in other anglophone countries, but gaining traction in America) where liberals are basically centrists (in capitalist societies) who might pretend to be progressive but are ultimately moderates to their bones. This came from the proclivities of “Liberal” parties, along with centrists understandably claiming the name of whatever the ruling ideology is, and here it is of course liberalism.

        Among leftist circles, “liberal” is sort of an unmarked term for the moderate definition and the Lockean definition both, like how “guys” can refer to both a group of males and a group of mixed gender, despite “gals” only referring specifically to a group of females (I’m using those terms because they apply to children also, not just men/women).

        So the comment is saying, in translation: “Democrat aligned people will still blame socialists (etc.) like their Democrat ideological cult wants them to.” Does that make sense?

        • DoubleChad@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          12 hours ago

          You mean because I am asking reasonable questions to learn? I have heard the phrase blue maga but am not very familiar with what it means. Meanwhile your post history is nothing but frothing at the mouth vitriol and online angst just like all of Reddit. Why exactly are you somewhere else? I would think because you got tired of that crap just like the rest of us. So let’s try to do better here.

    • P03 Locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      40
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      This is a sentence with words, but the arrangement makes no sense. You sure you didn’t generate that from ChatGPT?

      • Alsephina@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        32
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        ? Do you disagree? Isn’t blaming leftists what blue maga is currently priming their voters for if/when they lose?

      • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        24 hours ago

        I think it’s funny that someone with “Locke” in their name would seemingly not distinguish between liberals and leftists.

        • Naryn@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          8
          ·
          22 hours ago

          You realise that you’re not using the word liberal as Locke would either right?

          • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            14 hours ago

            That’s true, they are (and I guess I am, by extension) using it in a narrower sense than is represented in Locke, who encompasses both the red and blue team, but the Lockean sense would still distinguish between liberals and modern leftism.

      • Arelin@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        20
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 day ago

        This is a sentence with words, but the arrangement makes no sense. You sure you didn’t generate that from ChatGPT?

    • Lightor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Jesus, bucketing everyone together and then throwing out crazy labels. Sounds like you live by the MAGA playbook.

    • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 hours ago

      Her word salads and accents are legendary. Could they have not picked someone else?

      • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        15 hours ago

        what’s better for the establishment than a candidate that functions as an empty suit?

        • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          6 hours ago

          I mean, you are right. She is a puppet. Could not risk losing all the big money Biden donators had already shelled. They want their cake too. Hence no Primary.

          Watched her on a number of instances, it is all woke rhetoric and 'Vote for me, I am not Trump" messafing. Over and over.

          Previous, better Candidates actually stood for something on their own. Rather than not much at all or just reminding you, constantly, of who they were not. Obama and Sanders could actually stand in a room and engage with it and with at least what sounded like their own opinions and rational ideas.

  • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    I’m struggling really hard to see which voter is on the fence between Trump and Stein. Wouldn’t it be more likely to be on the fence between Stein and Harris, or Stein and the couch?

    • maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      I think Trump draws a lot of broad support from his ‘anti-establishment’ rhetoric so it kinda makes sense for folks to look to other anti-establishment candidates as an alternative to him. There’s a tendency to look down upon Trump voters as only right wingers, conspiracists etc and not really understand that a lot of his support is superficial and based on limited information.

      In a way it’s not so much that Stein or other left candidates are spoilers for the establishment Dems but more the case that figures like Trump are spoilers for progressive alternatives to the establishment.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      1 day ago

      Jill Stein is providing spite voters an option to not vote for Donald Trump.

      Hillary took a lot of friendly fire in 2016 from the Bernie Bros who were not too happy.

        • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          20 hours ago

          I don’t know the exact math you are referring. but I do know that Obama won and Hillary lost.

          Did Obama win over more right wing voters than Hillary left wing voters?

          • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            14 hours ago

            Obama was remarkably good at getting young voters out in record numbers at that time. My state went Democrat for the first (and last) time in 30-something years and when I looked at the county breakdown the newly turned blue counties were all counties with a major public university or multiple smaller universities.

    • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      24 hours ago

      Not as many people hate Harris specifically as hated Hillary, but a lot of people (for good and bad reasons) hate the Dems and also Kamala to some extent.

      • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        15 hours ago

        One could still be pro Democrat or pro democracy, and still do not like Harris. Many things can be true at the same time.

        • Naryn@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          10 hours ago

          They vote anti establishment in general, which is the green party.

          I just personally hate anyone who tries to argue somebody doesn’t have a right to ruin for presidency, they might not win but that’s not the point. If you’re a democracy, any citizen who meets the criteria has he right to run for an elected position.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    12 hours ago

    Democrats will still blame Stein if they lose, and even though their explicit strategy is to pick off disaffected Republicans, they’ll never blame Chase Oliver. It’s just like in 2016, when Hillary used the exact same strategy, and they blamed Stein, even though Gary Johnson took home a much higher percentage of the vote in most swing states. They don’t care about spoiler candidates; they just want to punch left, especially when they need a scapegoat for a loss.

    • Grapho@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      Español
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 hours ago

      This. As long as they have a base big and dumb enough to buy any and every excuse to go further right (and blame progressives for it), they’ll keep doing it.

    • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 hour ago

      What’s wild to me is that they actually put out attack ads targeting the Green party, which tells me they’re believing their own propaganda.

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    15 hours ago

    Do you think all of those people who have been saying that third-party voters are going to destroy the US will be apologizing in the comment section here?

    • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      14 hours ago

      First past the post is a terrible design. Let’s rank choice and move on.

      lol, pie in the sky right?

    • vxx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      12 hours ago

      It’s possible the warnings helped. No reason to apologise for that.

    • spongebue@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      13 hours ago

      Regardless of outcome, you’re playing with fire in our current voting system. Even if a few states did actually elect a third party, you could see no candidate reach 270 electoral votes and then it goes to the even more arcane vote done in the house of representatives (which each state gets a vote)

      A very blue district in Hawaii sent a Republican (Charles Djou) to Washington in a special election with less than half the vote, because the two Democrats in the race refused to back down. If there were a ranked choice or other voting system than “plurality takes all”, he wouldn’t have won

      • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Oh geez, really tightening up the narrative now. 3rd party voting in non-swing states is getting demonized.

        • spongebue@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          10
          ·
          12 hours ago

          Cripes. My point was our current system means your vote for the perfect candidate can put the candidate you disagree with most into office when one with much closer views to yours could have been elected instead. It has happened, and in a place where it really shouldn’t have.

          That system should be changed for that reason, and until it is you should be very aware of unintended consequences of that vote.

          • zaza [she/they/her]@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            8 hours ago

            So now that you’ve identified the problem I can only hope you’re actively building grassroots support to replace the current system instead of just posting online about how people should vote blue no matter what, right?

            • spongebue@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              7
              ·
              7 hours ago

              I see lots of problems in the world. Our voting system is flawed, income inequality is bananas, people still think Donald Trump won the election 4 years ago, our cities are very car-dependent, and plenty more. If I built a grassroots program for every issue I point out to every yahoo on the Internet, I wouldn’t have time to change my toddler’s diaper. If my posting online tells people to keep the cart behind the horse or reconsider their points of view (glad you seem to agree with me what the problem is!) I’ll call that a win on a smaller scale.

              • zaza [she/they/her]@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                6 hours ago

                I understand juggling the current political hellscape with a child is nightmarish but building a movement behind a better political system would be the first step in allowing people to vote for better options and resolve the myriad of issues you’ve listed - until then saying to “keep the cart behind the horse” only means we’ll continue bickering in the backseat while the obviously broken two-party state drives us all off the edge.

                And I get that between work and family finding time to be politically active can be challenging but I would hope you can find an hour or two a month to join your local RCV advocacy group and help create a better political environment for yours and everybody else’s children.

  • pregnantwithrage@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    11 hours ago

    Without looking at any statistics or polling, I think the spoiler effect is not as prominent and is over stated for one reason.

    If I’m going out of my way to not vote for the Democrats or Republicans and voting third party that would mean that I dislike my options so much that I’m giving a fuck you to the two party system.

    What people can gather from this is if you said there was only two options I would just sit out and therefore it wasn’t going to affect either candidate regardless.

    I’m open to be convinced otherwise but I think candidates blaming spoilers should look at the electoral college and themselves when every 4 years they are ready to blame single digit candidates for their losses.

    • PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      5 hours ago

      It sounds like your interpretation of the spoiler effect centers on people voting third party due to dissatisfaction with the 2 unfortunately omnipresent parties, which would be the same as not voting. Have you considered that some people who were going to vote no matter what might vote for a third party candidate because their listed policies actually resonate with them?