re: Flaws in the American Political System Open thread

quote:

---

What happens if a majority votes third party?


you still end up with a two party system, with one replaced.

---

Not quite so smooth and easy. It takes not only a majority (plurality?) voting to elect a President with the electoral college going along, but it also takes that 3rd party electing a viable number of candidates to Congress (House/Senate) and capturing a fair share of Governors and State Legislative seats. This would tend to happen over a series of elections and not just one tumultuous election. See the elections that preceded the GOP displacing the Whigs. Or note in more recent times the shift in the old "Solid South" from being predominantly (exclusively) Southern democrats to republicans getting competitive, to republicans winning majorities in Southern state legislatures, Congressional/Senate delegations/governor seats.