this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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United States | News & Politics

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A new poll suggests that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is drawing more voters from former President Donald Trump than from Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to a Noble Predictive Insights survey released last week, Harris holds a narrow lead over Trump in a hypothetical three-way race. With Stein on the ballot, Harris' lead expands, pointing to a potential spoiler effect similar to what many Democrats blamed Stein for doing to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

For Trump, the emergence of Stein as a potential spoiler may be a critical factor in battleground states, where even a small shift in votes could determine the outcome. For Harris, Stein's candidacy could paradoxically provide an unexpected advantage, drawing votes from Trump and narrowing his pathway to victory.

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[–] pregnantwithrage@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

Without looking at any statistics or polling, I think the spoiler effect is not as prominent and is over stated for one reason.

If I'm going out of my way to not vote for the Democrats or Republicans and voting third party that would mean that I dislike my options so much that I'm giving a fuck you to the two party system.

What people can gather from this is if you said there was only two options I would just sit out and therefore it wasn't going to affect either candidate regardless.

I'm open to be convinced otherwise but I think candidates blaming spoilers should look at the electoral college and themselves when every 4 years they are ready to blame single digit candidates for their losses.

[–] PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee 11 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

It sounds like your interpretation of the spoiler effect centers on people voting third party due to dissatisfaction with the 2 unfortunately omnipresent parties, which would be the same as not voting. Have you considered that some people who were going to vote no matter what might vote for a third party candidate because their listed policies actually resonate with them?

[–] pregnantwithrage@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would agree with you maybe 10 years ago but I think that the empire being in such decline and leading us to the worst candidates back to back to back it's really hard for me to believe that third parties are to blame for the spoiler effect. Taking third parties off the ballot most likely wouldn't have the effect that people put on them because everyone has an opinion on the two candidates more than ever.

[–] PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee 1 points 3 weeks ago

There is nothing to agree or disagree with here, I gave no opinion on spoiler effect, I explained 2 potential reasons why someone might vote third party.

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