this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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MeanwhileOnGrad
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While I strongly disagree with the dogwhistles here, it's true. If your state voted for Trump or Clinton/Biden with >10% margin in the last two elections, there's almost zero chance the Trump/Harris election will go any differently.
I personally dislike both major party candidates (but dislike Trump more) and since my state (Utah) voted for Trump with ~20% margin in both prior elections (even in 2016 w/ McMullin taking >20% of the vote), I feel comfortable voting my conscience. I even voted for Biden last election on the off-chance that people here hated Trump enough to matter, but no, >20% spread.
So I'm back to voting third party. Even if every third party vote went to Harris, my state would still elect Trump with something like 15-25% spread. The only way that changes is if Kamala converts to my state's predominant religion and Trump literally outs himself as worshipping Satan, and even then we'd probably still go with Trump for some stupid reason.
So I vote for the next most popular third party, and in this case, that's Chase Oliver from the Libertarian Party. I'm also registered Libertarian, mostly because I think they have the best chance to actually get a message out about voting reform, but also because I'm probably closest to their views (though I disagree with the LP on a ton of issues, especially recently, and especially the local UT LP). He'll probably get 2-3% of the vote, perhaps less this year because he's gay. If that instead were the Green Party, I'd vote for them (even though I have even less in common), because my goal here is to send a message that the 2-party system sucks.
If your state is that polarized, there's really no point in voting for the minority party candidate, go third party and make a statement.
I'm glad you're sending a message about the two-party system in a way that actually matters. Voting third party in a state that will never change is like, the one time it's safe and effective to do that.
Exactly, yet I get so much pushback on that.
Yes, if your state has any chance of flipping, choose the lesser of two evils. And don't just look at the last election, look at the last 5 or so. If any of them were anywhere near close, vote for the lesser of two evils. Or if your state is trending toward being competitive, vote for the lesser of two evils. If you're not willing to check, vote for the lesser of two evils.
But if your state consistently votes a certain way with a huge margin, then vote your conscience. For me, that's the most popular third party.
believing your state is hard locked in one party is exactly the mindset that makes it hard locked. My state is 'hard red' but it wasn't always like that. California was a solid red state but no longer is. Until we have ranked voting, we're stuck with two parties at the federal level. Voting 3rd is only serves to signal to the majority parties where to not waste their energy.
Donald Trump actually showed up to the Libertarian National Convention, I don't think such an arrogant dickwad would have bothered if he didn't think it was important to appeal to third party voters. They already spend less time in their 'safe' states.