I’ve heard it said 1000 times that the US is 2 party political system, but I just don’t understand what mechanisms push it to be that way? Why are 3rd parties so weak or unlikely?
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Leading up to the election, we see the 2 major candidates as Amy or Charlie. Most people really want Bobby. But the more votes Bobby gets, the fewer votes Charlie gets. Everyone is afraid that Amy will get elected if they don’t vote for Charlie, so Charlie ends up winning.
How do we fix this? Ranked choice vote. If everyone is allowed to say who their first, second, third choice, etc are, then they don’t have to worry about taking a vote away from their second choice. In this system, if the person you voted for doesn’t win, then your vote gets transferred to your second choice.
There are many benefits to this system: if a candidate buys a primary election, and you wanted the other major candidate for that party, you can still vote them first choice. If a third party candidate still loses, you can still see how many first choice votes they got. If it was close to nothing, they know they didn’t stand a chance. If it was high, they could get more funding and try again next time. If there are 5 equal positions open, you can vote for your 5 (or more) favorites, and not each position individually.
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