Is a vote for a third party candidate a wasted

vote?

35% Say Yes

65% Say No

Someone Will Be Elected

If you can't bring yourself to vote for the "lesser of two evils" you will end up with
someone being elected who you do not agree with on anything, with no input from
you. Like it or not there are major differences between the two major parties on gun
control, abortion rights, same sex marriage etc. The lesser of two evils is still
"lesser."

Be the Change

If we all stopped thinking that voting for a candidate we actually want to vote for
was a waste, then it wouldn't be! It is up to make a change in this country and break
away from the two party system.
The republicans and democrats win every time someone says, "voting third party is
throwing your vote away." They have all of the power and we're allowing that to
happen. If we don't want to live in a country that's run by two huge, uncontested
parties that have long been bought out by giant corporations, then voting third
party seems like a good way to go.

First Past the Post

In a First Past the Post system, voting third party is a wasted vote. The point of
voting for a candidate is to maximize their chance of winning. The chance of a third
party candidate winning are astronomical, so by voting for the lesser of two evils,
voters are maximizing the chance of electing a candidate that is tolerable.
The First Past the Post system also has what is known as the spoiler effect. Suppose
there was an election between the Democrats and the Republicans. The Democrats
got 51% of the vote, and Republicans got 49%. The Democrats would win and get
elected. Now suppose that a similar election, but the Green Party got a significant
portion of the votes. Suppose that the Green Party gets 10% of the votes, and the
people who voted Green normally would have voted Democratic. The results are as
follows: Republican 49%, Democratic 41%, and Green 10%. The Republicans won
with a plurality vote, even though 51% voted for Democratic or Green. Ergo, voting
third party is a vote against yourself.

At This Point, Yes

America, for essential purposes, really only has two viable parties: Democrats and
Republicans. As for elections, generally a democrat or republican wins, even though
we do have grass roots efforts like the Tea Party or the Independent Party. The
problem is, is that these third party candidates do not receive the funding that
those of the larger parties do. Since they can not campaign as much, less people
know about them and their platforms and do not vote for them. A vote for a third
part candidate in today's model is pointless.

If you want your candidate elected, yes.

If you vote for someone who has no chance of winning, a class in which most third
party candidates fall, you're wasting your vote. You will still influence the election by
taking votes away from the contender that you would have otherwise voted for, but
unless you're just voting to make yourself feel good (voting your conscience) you
should vote for the person who could possibly win that you like the most. Think of it
as choosing ice cream. You love peanut-butter-rippled pistachio, like vanilla, and are
allergic to chocolate. You have to eat what everyone in your state votes for. Do you
vote for pistachio and go to the emergency room, or do you vote for vanilla?

Unfortunately, yes it is

Even though every person should be able to vote for whomever they choose, the
electoral system does not allow for this. Our current party system does not allow for
this either. Third party candidates are never acknowledged enough to make any of
their votes really count. This isn't from lack trying on their part, just lack of media
awareness.

Huge Waste

Yes, a vote for a third party candidate is a wasted vote. Its a given in any election
that there will be third party candidate votes. We would like to believe that these
votes mean something, that they at least send a message about our dissatisfaction
with the Republican and Democratic candidates. But the brutal truth is they do not.
They are not even a blip on the radar. In order for these votes to get so much as a
second glance, there would have to be thousands of them across multiple states
and even then the two dominant parties would be busy trying to figure out which of
them would have gotten the votes if the third party candidate had not run for office.

Yes.

Candidates besides the Democrat and Republican candidates have no chance of

winning. Even if you don't like either candidate, you should still vote for the better
of the two, since voting for someone else will change nothing, and will give the
candidate you like the least a better chance of winning.

Your vote is a step in the right direction

We have the right to vote for whomever we choose. Candidates from the two most
prominent political parties will obviously have the upper hand when it comes to
television advertisements, political lobbies, and general public recognition. Your

vote is only "wasted" if you spend it on a candidate in the hope that he will be the
lesser of two evils.

Awesome third party!!!!!!

Third parties tend to be more tolerant than the Democratic party and the
Republican party. Third parties serve as a middle ground for those with both liberal
and conservative mindsets. Third parties also have a more loyal background than
the other two parties, therefore placing a vote for a third party is not a wasted vote.

Status quo is wasting future

The major parties present AWEFUL candidates either terminally vapid or

unbelievably scandalous... And the mass media never points it out until long after it
is meaningful. Note the mass media makes billions on the system just like it is. They
will never mention that BOTH parties take contributions from the vested interests.

Federalists and whigs

The sooner the democrat and republican parties join the federalist and whig parties
in the dustbin of history, the better. Those who believe in major differences between
the two major parties deserve the government they get; we and the world do
notdeserve it. Vote third party early and often and over and over.

Both major parties are 99 per cent same

In my youth, circa 50s and 60s, and maybe 70s ( boys grow up slower than girls ( if
at all )), a family with one good income could have a stay at home spouse a
vacation a car and a house etc. No longer possible in private sector. That is the
important thing. Not gay abortion guns.

You're not throwing your vote away. Your throwing it in their face!

Major parties can best formulate new policy positions for emerging public discourse
with information they receive from their non-constituents. They want more votes,
and their more likely to attract "third-party" voters than "other-major-party" voters.
Thus that adapt their policy positions based on third-party polling figures.
The third party vote is the carrot that drives the donkey (or elephant as the case
may be.)
imaging the following scenario: Two "major party" candidates are running in a tight
election in which there are also two "minor party" candidates - we'll call them a
Brown Party and an Orange Party.
The major parties poll 39% and 41% of the vote, respectively for a total of (80%).
41% wins. Meanwhile, Orange party polls 11% and Brown Party polls 9% - the
remaining 20%.
You can bet that both major parties will - in the next election cycle - adopt some
Orange party policy positions in order to attract that portion of the electorate: in the
one case that 12% would surely put them in the winners column and in the other
case it would surely keep them there. At the same time, the victorious party may be
content to appeal to the Brown party as that could potentially give them a leading
edge.
In this way it is not third party votes that are thrown away. Quite the contrary: they
may count the most in determining policy making even within the major parties.

To Mr. Huge Waste:

I will use your flawed logic in another way. Let's say that you wanted to vote for Mitt
Romney, but were afraid that Mitt Romney was going to lose anyway. So you
decided to vote for Obama because of your fear, even though you don't want him to
win. That is not logical. You are actually deciding that your vote doesn't count, and
this logic you show is truly a wasted vote.

We have the power

There a seems to be a certain fatalism on the other side, an overwhelming

assumption that we can not change the two party system - but we can, and all it
takes is some third party votes. Just like companies will always go where the money
is, politicians will always go where the votes are, and so we can disrupt the system
but putting out votes elsewhere.

Be the Change

If we all stopped thinking that voting for a candidate we actually want to vote for
was a waste, then it wouldn't be! It is up to make a change in this country and break
away from the two party system.
The republicans and democrats win every time someone says, "voting third party is
throwing your vote away." They have all of the power and we're allowing that to
happen. If we don't want to live in a country that's run by two huge, uncontested
parties that have long been bought out by giant corporations, then voting third
party seems like a good way to go.
Https://www.Facebook.Com/beyondredandblue - continue the debate.

Would rather vote for what I want and not get it then vote for what I don't want and
get it

The "two" parties have become indistinguishable. They are both filled entirely with
corporate stooges. If this were ever in doubt, obama's reign has confirmed it. By all
measures and tests, obama's proven to be no different from romney in all actions.
The only way he *looks* different to the blindly obedient democrat voter is his
hollow rhetoric. Claiming that a 3red party vote is worthless is the only reason why
it has been so far. The false edichotomy of the "lesser evil" has blindly loyal
democrat voters believing that they have to vote for one corporate stooge to avoid
the other. It's self-fulfilling prophecy. They say they want a liberal but they won't
vote for one because thy think that means a conservative will win. Well their "notwasted" vote allowed a conservative to win! Vote Green in 2014 and from now on if
you want to see any positive change.