# Who else voted 3rd party? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 8, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574 "2020-12-08T14:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/1 "2020-12-08T14:43:13Z")
I voted Green and was happy to do it. I know I live in a swing state (NC) so spare me all your complaints about wasted vote , etc. Trump is a mentally ill moron and Biden is a career politician and I think nobody should serve more than 12 years in Congress. I’m mostly OK with Harris so I hope Biden is a 1 term guy. I was a Yang guy until he dropped out . Hopefully he runs again and wins. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/2 "2020-12-08T15:05:05Z")
I bet many people who did are scared to admit it even here when nobody knows your name. . ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/3 "2020-12-08T15:13:09Z")
Why would they be scared? Why post on an anonymous message board if you’re scared of someone else’s opinions or reactions? I voted for Harry Brown in 2000, and while I can at least tell myself my vote wasn’t in Florida and didn’t consequently cost the election for Gore, the idea that it was okay to support a third party candidate when there was clearly a wrong choice is something I’ve never forgotten. In a sense, by joining the third party crowd, people like me convinced others that there was something wrong with Gore and that Bush and Cheney weren’t really any worse than Clinton or Gore. I was way off base. Voting in a democracy, especially in a two-party system, is almost always about making sure that the wrong guy doesn’t get elected more than it is about making a statement about what kind of candidate we wish we had at the top of a major ticket. Your vote for a green party candidate would just as well have been a write-in vote for Santa Claus. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/4 "2020-12-08T15:15:40Z")
I was going to, (I voted McMullin last time,) but I moved just a few weeks before Election Day and my registration was up in flux and I would have had to drive a long distance to a tax office to cast a limited ballot. Given Covid and all that, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk and did not vote. Otherwise I may have gone for Brian Carroll of the American Solidarity Party. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/5 "2020-12-08T15:17:28Z")
Honest question: If you didn’t want Trump to win (I assume, based on your ‘mentally ill moron’ statement, why not vote for Biden? I’ve mentioned this before, but during the previous (2016) election a very, very conservative friend of mine announced that he was going to vote libertarian because he didn’t like Trump. His wife mentioned that since we live in a two party country, whether or not he likes Trump, voting for Trump is the only way to vote against Hillary. Same here, if you want to keep Trump out of office, vote for Biden. Like him or hate him, a vote for him is the only way you can vote against Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/6 "2020-12-08T15:28:19Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Trump is a mentally ill moron and Biden is a career politician and I think nobody should serve more than 12 years in Congress. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a career politician per se. It just means they have experience and have had a chance to learn the ins and outs of their job and how government works. Which is a good thing. If I ever need an operation, I hope it will be done by a career surgeon. Which is not to say that there aren’t some politicians who have been in office way too long, nor that the deck isn’t too stacked in favor of incumbents. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/7 "2020-12-08T15:28:23Z")
Voted green because I did not like Biden for the job. Can’t vote for someone I don’t like. this is the first year we had green on the ballot. Even with Biden winning here in NC we are still run by the GOP outside of governor. And when the Dem governor won in 2016 the GOP stripped away many of his powers. He won again this year but about the only thing left for him to check the GOP is the veto. young surgeons do a lot of operations during their training and they also learn the latest stuff. That’s another reason not to worry about having a brand new surgeon. I had no problem with a young guy delivering my son. Neither did my wife . ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/8 "2020-12-08T15:50:40Z")
I voted Hawkins (Green). I live in NY. Under any circumstance where Biden was at risk of not getting NY’s electoral votes, he was toast anyhow, since that would have meant he was losing FL, GA, AZ, PA, WI, NV, MN, MI, IA, OH, NC, VA, ME, NH, OR, CO, NM, etc. I hand-lettered and mailed 300 GOTV postcards to GA; they didn’t say who to vote for but the recipient list was provided to me by a progressive organization. I offered to help set up “exchanges” between folks in swing states who wanted to vote Green and folks in states like NY who were willing to vote Green on their behalf if they’d vote Democratic in their swing state. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > Honest question: If you didn’t want Trump to win (I assume, based on your ‘mentally ill moron’ statement, why not vote for Biden? If you don’t want third parties to function as “spoilers”, why not support ranked choice voting? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/9 "2020-12-08T15:59:44Z")
The last time I voted third party was in 1980, when I voted for John Anderson. He lost. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/10 "2020-12-08T15:59:54Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > If you don’t want third parties to function as “spoilers”, why not support ranked choice voting? Guess which party wants to enact ranked choice voting. Now guess what voting 3rd party does to their chances of getting in power to enact it. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/11 "2020-12-08T16:20:25Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Guess which party wants to enact ranked choice voting. > > Now guess what voting 3rd party does to their chances of getting in power to enact it. Ranked choice voting was a ballot question in Massachusetts. Biden won by a wide margin her but the ballot question did not pass. Not sure it’s true that Democrats want to enact ranked choice voting (though it was endorsed by quite a few current and former local politicians from both sides). I voted Green in Massachusetts. If local Democrats are upset about that they should have voted for RCV. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/12 "2020-12-08T16:27:48Z")
I read a good piece of advice about US politics. > [@](#): > > Political maturity means selecting the candidate who best aligns with your views and interests - _from one of the two major parties_ . ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/13 "2020-12-08T16:39:42Z")
The ballot measure wouldn’t have retroactively instituted RCV for this election would it? Respectfully, your position sounds a bit petulant. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/14 "2020-12-08T16:43:55Z")
The following figures are how many fewer votes there were for third-party candidates in the states listed in 2020 compared to 2016: MI 166,729 PA 190,877 WI 55,530 GA 85,750 Make of the numbers what you will, but my guess is that more went to Biden than to Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/15 "2020-12-08T16:46:26Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Can’t vote for someone I don’t like. [#NotAValentine](https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-2000-election-unleashed-disaster-on-the-world-we-cant-let-that-happen-again-in-2016/) ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/16 "2020-12-08T17:21:33Z")
I dunno, I just can’t vote for someone who I wouldn’t soul-kiss and dry hump in the hallway outside my dentist’s office. Which is why I was such an Elizabeth Warren fan. But Biden will do. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/17 "2020-12-08T17:23:21Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > The following figures are how many fewer votes there were for third-party candidates in the states listed in 2020 compared to 2016: > MI 166,729 > PA 190,877 > WI 55,530 > GA 85,750 > Make of the numbers what you will, but my guess is that more went to Biden than to Trump. That makes me feel a bit better. Hopefully they keep it up. Especially in GA. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/18 "2020-12-08T17:27:51Z")
I don’t have a problem with ranked choice voting. The GOP put the green party on the NC ballot thinking they would hurt Dem candidates. But there were no Green candidates other than president so the strategy did not work. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/19 "2020-12-08T17:31:15Z")
A lot of the time I feel Republicans are just smarter than us, and this is part of the reason. How many millions of Trump voters don’t like him, and hold their nose and tut-tut while pulling the lever? How many do you personally know who have this attitude? (For me, it’s 100% of my Trump-voting acquiantenceship.) He couldn’t win without them, that’s for sure. It is a smart attitude to have, if you want to defeat the party you consider to be the bad guys. If you think the parties are all essentially the same, sure, vote for your valentine. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574/20 "2020-12-08T17:46:06Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > If you think the parties are all essentially the same, sure, vote for your valentine. The hashtag is a link to a wonderful article by Rebecca Solnit. The quote that I dearly love is this: > [@](#): > > I want an end to patriarchy and capitalism and racism and a beginning of experiments in real and direct democracy, though direct democracy probably means an end to the corrupted representative democracy of this nation. We can get a little closer by elections, or at least not get further away on every front, and but the work doesn’t begin and end with elections—and it doesn’t necessarily work through them. That’s part of why **I think of voting as a chess move, not a valentine**. It’s just a little part of the picture of how we make the world. (emphasis added) Voting for someone doesn’t mean you like or respect them or think they’re anything above a pure dumpster fire. It means you think that, _at that particular moment_, casting a vote for them is likely to change things in a more positive direction than not casting a vote for them would. Biden’s far from the top of my list of favorite politicians. But casting a vote for him was a strategic choice, not a seal of approval. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-voted-3rd-party/927574.md?page=2)