Last semester, I took a class called Intro to Comparative Politics. We talked a lot about different political systems in different countries, different ways of voting, and so on. When talking about voting, my professor said flat-out that if you vote for a third party candidate in the United States, you are stupid and you are wasting your vote.

Personally, I understand my professor's point. A third party candidate will never win in the United States political system, so you are better of voting for whoever you like best from the Republicans or Democrats. That being said, I do believe he is missing the point of why people vote for third parties. People that voted for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein in 2016 knew their candidate had no chance, but voted for them on principle, and I do think there is something to be said about that. If you have both the Democrats and Republicans, I do think voting for a third party option is valid, to stick to your principles and prove a point. However, I would likely never vote for a third party candidate because, although I agree with the Libertarian Party the most, I like the Republicans significantly more than the Democrats, enough to make me vote strategically rather than sincerely.

What do you guys think about this? Would you ever vote for a third party candidate?

If I had the ability to vote in 2016, I probably wouldn't have voted for a third party, simply because it's not going to do much. However, I did consider it since I didn't like Hillary or Trump very much...

I still laugh at the fact that Utah's voted majority for a third party in 2016, hilarious.

Personally I think voting for a third party is a wasted vote. Everyone has their vote, so they can do what they want, and while every vote counts, I don't think that voting for a third party candidate does much good.

But I'm not here to tell people how to vote. If you want to support someone, support them! Politics isn't about right or wrong, it's about having your voice be heard.

Actually yes I would vote for a 3rd party. But that's because I myself am part of a 3rd party.

It'd be really nice if a third party could actually win in the US but since that's not possible as of now, when I'm able to vote I'm not going to vote for a third party. It's a wasted vote, you're better off trying to do damage control or whatever.

money in politics was a mistake

Coming from a guy that has voted 3rd Party in two Presidential Elections (2012 & 2016), you can easily say that I will and forever will vote for 3rd Party, regardless on anyone else's opinion.

Personally, people keep saying that "oh, you're wasting your vote for 3rd Party". Yeah, I rather waste my vote on someone that would actually do something, instead of voting for one of the 2 bipartisan candidates that will do absolutely nothing for 4 years which is sickening.

Like for an example, I went with Gary Johnson for the 2016 Presidential Election, because unlike Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton which personally, they both (Trump and Hillary) are complete idiots that shouldn't even run for president at all, at least Johnson is a whole lot more qualified to run for president. Johnson would of came up with ideas that would of satisfy both sides, and make both sides happy.

Personally, if people are not too hooked on the whole stupid bipartisan BS, then we wouldn't have a President Donald Trump, or a President Hillary Clinton, we would of had a President Gary Johnson, because no one in their sane mind would of voted for those two psychopaths (Trump and Hillary) anyways.

As for 2020's US Presidential Election, I will go 3rd Party once again for the 3rd time, and if people start ripping my head off for "wasting my vote", I would say, "hey, better to waste my vote for someone that will actually help the United States, than vote for someone that won't do absolutely anything for 4 years".

Presidents are suppose to represent ALL PEOPLE so they should be center of the isle. But.. whatever it is what it is.

There are problems though with third parties.

- They probably do not have the financial backing to the likes of republicans or democrats unless the person is very rich or they managed to start a grass roots movement that compels the masses.

- They are completely snubbed in debates and media and they (the media) typically label the third party as crazy folks with crazy ideas who would never win.

- They probably have a harder time getting endorsements in government considering most people are one side or the other so their rise to the top is harder to accomplish.

- They have to get approval from two other parties not just one when dealing with issues and passing stuff. So in essence, they got very little support. The other two parties are lucky because they got tons of buddies to gang up and back up whatever it is they want to do.

Is it a wasted vote? That depends on your region and support of independent people in that region... A majority of votes are wasted votes if you think about it because they cancel another persons vote from the opposition.

If you vote third party you are taking away a potential vote from the other two. This might be considered "good news" but at the end of the day it will actually help one of the others succeed if your region is not big on independent party.

*DISCLAIMER* I am writing this as a neutral party, basing my observations on trends in American Politics. I do not want to insult anyone’s way of thinking, and would like to clarify that I am only wishing to inform people on the strict two party system in the United States.

Third party voting, or more-so, a lack of third party voting, is actually something that I've been studying over the last few months. To answer your question, no, with the current political system in place, I would not vote third party, unless I only wish to spite the democrat and republican candidates. I agree with your professor, voting third party throws away a vote, which can become critical in close competition.

I would like to expand on the issue of the bipartisan political climate that we have in the United States and why it favors a two party system.
Going back to the creation of our country, we set up the electoral college, which grants votes for the president based upon the most votes for a candidate in that state. The system worked during a surprising number of the early presidential elections. Many times, third parties won states and were given electoral votes. In the elections between 1789, and the election of Calvin Coolidge in 1924, eight elections included third party candidates who won at least one state. Since then, only twice has this been the case. The winner take all system of the electoral college has given people the impression that if they don’t vote for a main party candidate, they stand no chance in the election. People have turned to voting for one of the two parties to have their vote mean something. While the electoral college has had an effect on the likelihood of people voting third party, a big culprit of a bipartisan system is the media.

Widespread mass media began to have large effect on political matters starting in the 1920s, when radio stations and newspapers were made to influence people’s public opinions. In the ensuing hundred years, the effect of media has increased and Americans are more likely to pay attention to major news networks, such as the New York Times and Fox News as their source for information. It is completely relevant that these major news providers focus on either democratic or republican policy based upon their supportive party. During election cycles the media is heavily influenced by their supportive parties, in the form of National Committees. These committees are important, and I’ll bring them back up in a minute. Voters are less likely to know about third party candidates because of their heavy reliance on the media and a growing population of people who don’t want to do research on their own. The media works with committees to spread information, whether fact or fiction, on to their listeners/readers. American voters blind themselves to reality by relying so much on the media, and are therefore unable to seriously consider what values they’re truly looking for in a candidate. The media rarely, if ever, gives attention to third party candidates, or even major party candidates that the committee doesn't support, see 2016. American inability to think for themselves drives a two party system that often shuts out innovative thinkers that see the solution elsewhere,

Lastly, the power of committees, bundled with cooperation, suppresses ideas and influence of third party candidates. You see many more third party candidates winning at state and local levels of governments largely due to little outside influence forcing voters to formulate opinions of their own. Money drives politics, and when committees work with cooperation who support their candidates, the committees can dominate air time and tell newspapers what to publish. If people were to put in the effort to learn about candidates from other parties, then there would likely be a rise to third party votes and success rates.

Just look back at the 2016 election to see how powerful these two parties have come. Bernie Sanders, an independent, had to run through the DNC in order to be given any kind of shot. If he had run as an independent, he wouldn't have stood a chance, due to an inability to get his message out through the media.

Obviously, the point of this was not to insult any Americans intelligence or ethics, and I do understand that many people do vote for democratic or republican candidates because they’re who they connect with. Most of the content in this is purely hypothetical backed with information about the past and current political climate and previous campaigns. If you have any questions, please feel free to reply.
Also, this was written as a neutral party, backed by what I have learned and been taught while taking political and human interaction courses. Thank you for reading and remember to keep an open mind and think on your own, especially with a more corrupt political system than ever.

Yes I would depending on how detailed there talking points and polices where conveyed to me, and also if they were more down to earth and balanced instead of focusing the the oddest of issues as there focal point. Honestly I think a third party candidate is what the United states needs right now and now would be the perfect time for one to run since neither the democrats nor the republicans can produce a competent candidate after all we can't do any worse than the current administration(if it can even be called one, seems more like a man child and over paided clueless babysitters it's like hiring the 13 year old up the street to watch your newborn because you want to be cheap and save money as opposed to sending the kid to the daycare center).