Hoogstwaarschijnlijk wrote:Okay, here is something I don't get: why would you vote for Obama when you actually sympathise with another party more? I mean, apparently everyone thinks like that and then it's only about Obama and Romney while actually people like other parties more, isn't that wrong or at least very strange...?
Because of the way the electoral system is set up. Each state has a number of electors, and the winner of that state gets all of them. Whichever candidate gets more than 270 electoral votes wins. Also, there are no runoff elections for president.
I share more in common with Jill Stein, but her chances of winning are exactly zero. I'm voting for Obama because the prospect of a Romney presidency is too nightmarish to even contemplate.
I still remember how Bush won Florida (and thus the US) in 2000 by a margin of around 700 votes. Some 30,000 Floridians had voted for Ralph Nader. If they have voted for Gore, Gore would have been president. That's the danger of voting for people with zero chance of winning: you can aid in giving the worst candidate the keys to government.
Don't you think this system should be changed to give other parties more chances?
Yes indeed. The electoral system needs to be reformed, and the possibility of instant runoffs should be implemented. But that would require a constitutional amendment, and that won't happen as long as conservatives dominate.