this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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While voting, the only votes that matter are for the 2 leading parties. A third party vote is equivalent to not voting. Outside of the voting booth, there's more you can do to push what you actually want. Doing stuff other than voting doesn't mean you have to completely waste your vote too.
Third party votes do a number of things, from signaling disapproval for the electoral system in general, to supporting parties that one of the lead parties will need to bend towards to capture votes.
Also, only a handful of states even matter, most states aren't swing states. In these non-swing states, no vote matters. This is part of why voter apathy is so high.
Nobody in power gives a crap about a protest vote, If you spend that time protesting elsewhere you'll make a bigger impact.
If they aren't trying to get my vote, why would I vote for them? They're telling me to fuck off!
A party that's moderately responsive to its constituents would see their usual voters defecting and try to do something to bring them back. Democrats don't even clear that low bar.