As expected I'm both proud of america for seeing Harris for who she is and not voting for her but likewise disapointed to see Trump get support. Still gullible buying the two party myth.

Well 4 years of trump,back to riots I guess.

@freemo why do you call it a myth? From what I understand, the mechanics are such that there are practical risks involved, concerning votes cast to "lesser"/"minor" parties concerning wasted/lost votes when the minor party loses.

@cobratbq

Its a myth because it is only the beleif in it that creates the effect at all. If no one thought there was a two party system there wouldnt be one.

Few points of evidence:

* Before people in the USA thought there was a two party system, there wasnt. Despite the voting system not having significiantly changed prior to the last 100 years the primary parties changed all the time. Throughout US history the 2 dominate parties have been replaced 8 times

* Other countries with a first-past-the-post voting system do not show a tendency to a 2-party system. There are countless elections around the world using this approach that dont consistently have the same 2 parties win

* Even if you model out the debunked theory claiming FPTP results in 2 party it doesnt make sense. Under that model it would only produce an illusion of a two party system (where the real support concentrates in the top 2 in votes). Nothing about the model would keep the same 2 parties in power, it would just cause the switching between parties to be abrupt (third parties with little votes in previous years suddenly jumping to 51% support over a single election). So even in pure theory if we accept the myth in that context it is still not real in any meaningful way.

@freemo hmmm.. you're making good points. I think it is a bit of a sinkhole that if you get stuck with two major parties it's hard to get away from that.

The math argument bothers me, where: if A is the least attractive but major, B is moderately attractive and major, C is most attractive bit minor. If you vote for B, you have reasonable chance, but if you vote for C and lose, then your vote that otherwise would've gone to B is now lost, therefore directly benefiting A.