Or at least all the candidates counted with the dataset I could find

  • peppersky [he/him, any]
    ·
    1 month ago

    15million people that voted Biden last time couldn't be bothered putting in a protest vote for something.

    If Americans actually did this it would scare the fuck out of the two parties to see a third, fourth and fifth candidate with millions of votes.

    No it wouldn't. Come on.

    • Awoo [she/her]
      ·
      1 month ago

      In terms of american history it would surely because it would be unprecedented.

      I just can't bring myself to say it's pointless because it's not. I live in a country with a 2 party fptp system where protest votes have fundamentally changed the country forever. There's political power in it and it's being left on the table instead of used and all I see is a cultural issue with americans simply not being bothered to do it because they do not recognise that there is a certain amount of power held within it. Not revolutionary power obviously, it isn't going to create socialism, but there's actual power in it for pulling other parties in a specific direction that is politically un-utilised by americans and the only reason I ever hear when asking people why makes it sound cultural.

      • peppersky [he/him, any]
        ·
        1 month ago

        no. you are just wrong. a million votes here or there for a third party candidate wouldn't change shit, except you'd give democrats a clear target for whom to blame the win of trump on. its not like every single other country in the western world, even those with not completely insane electoral systems, hasn't been experiencing a giant right wing shift over the last few decades-

        • Awoo [she/her]
          ·
          1 month ago

          I'm not hearing an explanation for why other than a general cultural attitude towards it being pointless rather than a mechanistic one.

          except you'd give democrats a clear target for whom to blame the win of trump

          Yes and that happens here too. Except it means the parties know who they need to win over and for what specific reasons. It causes parties to create policy intended to take voters away from those third parties.