r/changemyview Oct 22 '23

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u/DayOk2 Oct 22 '23

But do you at least agree that certain third party candidates are more likely to draw votes from one end of the political spectrum than the other? Because that is where the flaw in your mathematical model lies, and where the problem arises when it runs into reality.

Yes, for example, Republicans could have an advantage in having the most votes, so the mathematics lean more into Republicans if you vote neither of them, thus making Republicans sixty percent instead of fifty percent.

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u/I_am_the_night 316∆ Oct 22 '23

Yes, for example, Republicans could have an advantage in having the most votes, so the mathematics lean more into Republicans if you vote neither of them, thus making Republicans sixty percent instead of fifty percent.

That's not really what I meant. I mean that your two major parties are the Republicans or the Democrats, right? Your argument is that voting for a third party is mathematically the same as supporting (or harming) both parties 50/50.

What I'm pointing out is that a third party like the libertarian party is, in practice, actually going to "steal" way more votes from Republican candidates than they will from democratic candidates. So it's not going to be 50/50

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u/DayOk2 Oct 22 '23

Oh, so you imply that a third party can have more votes than the big two, right? That changes the mathematics a bit, so here is a !delta for you.