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.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8513612

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.

  • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    91·
    3 months ago

    You can already see this being pushed in leftwing spaces, here on lemmy it’s growing more obvious with crazy statements like ‘first past the post is bad so vote for a third party that’ll change it’ I guess most the people here saying that sort of thing are just useful idiots that picked it up somewhere else but that’s how it works