Agreed, the poll is flawed.
In general, I don’t care if someone votes for a third party. But if a person votes for their perfect candidate who has zero chance of winning, and thereby contributes to the win of a candidate they hate, at the expense of a candidate they feel meh about, I think that person is making a big mistake. But such situations are fairly rare, which is why I don’t really care very much.
I’m generally indifferent, and that isn’t included in the poll.
I would very much like to break up the 2 party system though, via any mechanism that doesn’t violate the constitution.
I am a registered independent.
Right, but, in general - at least from what I’ve seen - liberals are far likelier to believe that 3rd party voters siphon away votes from their side than conservatives are. I think that explains why in this poll most liberals look unfavorably on 3rd-party voters while conservatives don’t mind them.
Like Ralph Nader allowed W to sneak in.
Another dynamic that is at play is that, IMHO, generally Republicans consider you to be “okay” as long as you don’t vote for the D’s. So if you vote Republican, third party or don’t vote at all, you’re “okay.”
But in the Trump era, Democrats only consider you “okay” if you vote D. If you vote Republican, third party, or don’t vote, then you are **not **“okay.”
If you mean “someone who actively works on multiple levels to try to make 3rd parties viable” then I think it’s an important function of the political process. If you mean “people who once every 4 years think they’re making some kind of protest statement that the main parties suck” I say grow up (I fell for that in 2000, but grew up).
Third party would be less problematic in my view were it not for the presidency, as in the case of a parliamentary government. In a presidential/parliamentarian government, though, I think it just makes political obstruction more functional. I’ll confess that I just whipped this opinion out of my rectum and probably haven’t given the subject its proper rigor.
:applause: