The more candidates in the race, the better for Donald J. Trump, supporters say. And in a tight presidential contest, a small share of voters could change the result.

This works because almost all the US uses first-past-the-post elections for the Presidential general election. So you get outcomes like this:

Scenario 1:

Biden: 10 votes

Trump: 9 votes

Kennedy/Stein/West: 0 votes

Biden wins the state

Scenario 2:

Biden: 9 votes

Trump: 9 votes

Kennedy/Stein/West: 1 vote

Tied vote, decided by game of chance/lawsuit

Scenario 3:

Biden: 8 votes

Trump: 9 votes

Kennedy/Stein/West: 2 votes

Trump wins the state

This is why you see huge financial support from Republican billionaires for third party candidates who have no chance of winning.

  • @[email protected]
    43•7 months ago

    You can see the attempts even here on Lemmy to convince people to vote for a third party. Virtually anyone hyper focusing on Gaza and suggesting we should “show Biden what we think” is attempting to convince you to vote against your own interests.

    Take a look at the post history of anyone who calls him genocide Joe, and you’ll see “subtle” suggestions to vote for a third party candidate.

    • @[email protected]
      9•7 months ago

      Hit the nail on the head. Theres been noticeable push back these last 2 months, but i expect worse as we edge closer to november.

      They also completely ignore bringing the Ukrainian genocide when its brought up, even though russia has repeatedly now called them a stepping stone in denazifying Eastern Europe.

      For all of Status Quo Joe’s issues (and theres a million) he still doesnt compare to trump (and his billions of issues) in terms of how much damage they can do/are doing to the country and the planet as a whole.

    • FenrirIII
      8•7 months ago

      As much as I would love for there to be more options and the two-party system dismantled, voting third party right now in the presidential election is just stupid. A real third party has to start from the ground up or be a genuine splinter party from one of the two primary parties. Trump almost created a third party, but Republicans chose power over principle and party over country to make him their golden calf.

      • @[email protected]English
        7•7 months ago

        Not saying you are saying this, but it’s as good a post as any on which to say it:

        You can’t dismantle the 2 party system by voting for a third party. Even in the extremely unlikely situation that that third party wins, it will just quickly, if not immediately, go back to a two party system. It’s the nature of a FPTP voting system.

        It’s a process you have to start from the ground up. You can’t just vote for a POTUS and then magically we have multiple parties. You have to focus on your local politics and get people into office who will push to get our voting system changed. And that will have to “trickle up.” It’s not something that will be solved overnight, and people focus too much on the POTUS, when they should be putting their effort in where they have the most influence: locally.

    • @whereisk
      3•7 months ago

      It’s the classic establishment’s pincer maneuver.

      All progressive change needs to be attacked from both sides:

      All left wing candidates / laws / tax / regulations / proposals are both too left and not left enough.

      Only ideals that have no chance are “pure enough” for some on the left.

      This is an organised attack from the right / establishment for decades. Yeah, we are finally waking up and seeing through this shit.