this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
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United States | News & Politics

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[–] itsonlygeorge@reddthat.com 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Third-party candidates would have a shot if there wasn’t an electoral college and if we had ranked choice voting.

As the system is designed right now, anything that’s not one of the two mainstream parties is a spoiler vote.

In addition, campaign finance laws are so broken any third party candidates cannot compete on a financial level. They simply don’t have enough money to market, advertise, travel, and campaign.

Add to that that most voters don’t understand how government works and are only concerned about one maybe two policy issues. They only vote for the candidate that mentions the one issue they care about. For Republicans, that’s typically gun laws, immigration, and lower taxes. For Democrats, that’s typically medical reform, education, and abortion rights.

Most voters in the last 20 to 30 years, honestly don’t give a shit about policy issues or campaign promises because the politicians have consistently proved that they’re lying. They politicians only listen to lobbyist and corporate interests which pay for their reelection campaigns.

This is why Republicans have been so successful in the last several election cycles without any meaningful platform or policies. They run on gut feeling, cult of personality, and meaningless single voter issues that they know they will never truely change because the lobbyists and incorporate interests will never allow it.