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HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

And the answer is that “Where did the other dollar go?” is a nonsensical question when you understand the situation correctly. But a lot of people who first hear it don’t understand the situation correctly.

Likewise, “You’re helping Trump by voting third-party” is a nonsensical when you understand the situation correctly, but many people don’t at first understand the situation correctly.

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pastabatman@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Are you sure we don’t understand it correctly? Trump won in 2016 in part due to the righteous indignation of people that refused to vote for Clinton. Third party spoiler candidates are not a new phenomenon.

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- HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  Trump won in 2016 in part due to the righteous indignation of people that refused to vote for Clinton.
  
  And would those people have suddenly switched to Clinton if no third-party candidate was available?
  
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  - pastabatman@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Most probably wouldn’t have voted at all but that doesn’t change the math. In a US presidential election, voting third party and not voting at all are equivalent in every practical sense.
    
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    HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Right. So, part of the problem with “Voting third-party means supporting Trump” is that it presumes I would have otherwise voted for Biden.
    
    And I wouldn’t have. Because he’s committing genocide.
    
    (Also, third-party candidates can pull votes away from Trump. Also, even small amounts of support for third-parties can lead to a third-party winning seats in congress if that support is concentrated in particular districts, like college towns, and in an evenly divided congress a few seats can control the balance of power.)
    
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