At 9/26/16 11:18 AM, BrandonIsNear wrote:
Do protest voters realize that by voting third party they're making it that much easier for Trump to win?
Some do, most don't. It's important to note that there are a lot of disenfranchised Republicans, broadly defined as a group that thinks Trump would be a disaster for the party. Conservative leaders like Romney, the Bush family, and until recently Cruz are morally and/or politically compelled to not support him, which naturally leads to a rift in the party and making Gary Johnson or Clinton seem more attractive by default.
Do you actually agree with the policies of third party candidates?
Gary Johnson seems a like a good guy with his heart in the right place, but he is too singularly focused on the marijuana issue and sees it as an answer to many of our country's problems, even though a lot of times they are at best tangentially related or a small fraction of a solution (ex. "What are your plans for our criminal justice system?"). He's also grossly inexperienced in foreign policy, but at least he knows what Aleppo is now.
Dr. Stein is preoccupied with appealing to fringe groups in the desperate hopes of building some semblance of a movement. Courting anti-vaccers and people who claim that radio waves are cancerous. She's also got the genius strategy of winning votes by promising to forgive student loans.
Evan McMullin is a nobody, but he might be able to sway the Utah vote due to his faith. Probably not, though.
I'm not against voting third party at all, I'm independent 100%, but in this specific election is seems like any vote that isn't for Hillary is for Trump.
This is a consistent theme with voting third party though, often against the Democratic candidate's favor. We can have a discussion about the pros and cons between FPTP voting and alternatives like runoff voting, but voting for president a candidate of a non-major party that has little to no influence in the legislature while in a FPTP election system is throwing your vote away, plain and simple. You vote for a person whose views you share the closest AND is viable as a candidate. Otherwise you'll get a mess. A big. Fat. Mess.