Okay, so instead of just leaving this picture up here, maybe I 'll just go ahead and explain why voting for a third party in a presidential election is a vote against your own interest.
1. Ultimately, the point of voting is to choose an electable candidate who most closely conforms to your personal views, the key word being "electable." If we take a candidate being effectively unelectable as being no different consequentially (See 2) than one who is fundamentally unelectable (read: someone who doesn 't qualify for the position by virtue of not being an American citizen, or not being of sufficient age, etc.), then voting for a third party would appear to be contrary to the idea of voting in some sense.
2. Third party candidates are not an effective means of achieving change. This is primarily based on the idea that achieving institutional change requires access to the
…show more content…
3. So, if third party candidates are not effectively electable given the current American voting system and if third party candidates are an ineffective means of achieving any meaningful change and if one believes on ought to vote, it would seem that one ought to vote for one of the two primary parties. However, what if one dislikes both parties and neither are particularly good representations of one 's views? Consider how much one likes a given candidate on a scale from 0 to 10. If one liked (in the sense that the candidate mirrors your views, keeping in mind how you prioritize your own views) candidate A with a rating of "a" and candidate B with a rating of "b" and a≠b, there must be a candidate, A or B, who more accurately represents your views and who you would rather have elected than the other. Then, if you were to vote for a third party, your r preferred effectively-electable candidate, A or B, has a lesser chance of winning the election, meaning there is a greater chance that a candidate you would more greatly dislike is elected and so a vote for a third party is a vote against your own