Why voting third party is not in your best interest

Sydney Allabaugh, Opinion Editor

March 30, 2024

As we approach another presidential election deciding between particularly unpopular candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Americans are searching for another option. Although third-party candidates can sound appealing, voting third party can sway an election to an undesirable result.

In an interview with ABC, Geoffrey Skelley, a senior elections analyst at 538, said the share of third-party votes is likely to be greater in elections with unpopular candidates. According to Gallup polls, approval ratings of both Biden and Trump average around 40%, nearly the lowest approval ratings of recent presidents. Thus, it is likely that a larger share of votes will go to third-party candidates than in previous years.

To some voters, third-party candidates running in this election more accurately represent their views. Two notable candidates include Independents Cornel West, a candidate claiming to be more progressive than Biden, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a candidate who has anti-establishment views on both sides of the aisle.

However, although Biden and Trump have low approval ratings, it is highly unlikely and unprecedented for a third-party candidate to even come close to winning the election. The likely and precedented reality is that the third-party share will disrupt election results in a less favorable way.

Historically, one of the most notable times third-party candidates have impacted election results was in the 1912 presidential election when popular once-Republican Teddy Roosevelt ran under the Bull Moose Party against Republican William Taft and Democrat Woodrow Wilson. This split the Republican vote between Roosevelt and Taft, causing Wilson to win the election.

This has happened in more recent elections as well, as recent as the 2016 race between Hillary Clinton and Trump. In some states, more votes were allotted to Green Party candidate Jill Stein than the margin between Clinton and Trump, meaning if those voters voted for Clinton instead of Stein, those states would have flipped, and Clinton would have won the election.

This could likely be the case in this election. For example, left-leaning progressives who may vote for West instead of Biden can split the Democrat vote and aid in the election of Trump, a Republican candidate who is much less representative of their views than Biden.

Although there are some problems with a two-party system, working within the system instead of fighting against it to no avail is significantly more likely to allow for political and social goals to be reached. Refusing to vote for Biden because he is not progressive enough can allow for Trump, a significantly less progressive candidate, to win. Biden, conversely, better represents most of left-leaning ideals than Trump and can potentially adjust his viewpoints to be more representative of progressive ideas.

There are way better ways to make a point than sabotaging an election. Call your representatives demanding change, protest, or draw attention to important issues, but do not aid in the election of a nonrepresentative candidate by throwing away a vote to a third party.

About the Contributor

Sydney Allabaugh, Editor-in-Chief

Sydney Allabaugh is the editor-in-chief of The Beacon. Allabaugh joined The Beacon as a first-year student writing for the opinion section. She became the assistant opinion editor during the latter half of her sophomore year and was the opinion editor throughout her junior year. She was promoted to her current role at the start of her senior year. Allabaugh will be graduating in May of 2025 with a major in Communication Studies with concentrations in Media Production and Strategic Communication, as well as a minor in Women's and Gender Studies. Outside of The Beacon, Allabaugh is the director of Wilkes Now!, Wilkes' student-run television program. She joined Wilkes Now! as a first-year student, became a production assistant her sophomore year, and began directing at the start of her junior year. Allabaugh is striving to work in television or public relations in her future.