In the presidential election of 2000, Ralph Nader, a Green Party candidate, cost Al Gore the election against George W. Bush. Florida, the tipping point in the electoral college, was won by Bush with a margin of about 2,000 votes. Ralph Nader, whose voters would most likely have picked Gore in his absence, won nearly 100,000. Nader, despite campaigning on a message of progressive action, had thrown the election to the conservative Bush. Simply put, Nader had spoiled the election.
In a presidential election, voting for a third party is a waste of a vote. It is impossible for a third party to win a presidential election, excluding some catastrophic overhaul of American politics. If a third party wants to be a viable party that has a shot at the oval office, they should campaign their way to the top. Third parties should craft a long term plan—running for mayor, then House, then Senate and so on. Third parties should weave themselves into politics before jumping into the most important political race in the country. Without this genuine, grassroots effort, the third party becomes nothing more than a spoiler for actual election results.
In some cases, this “spoling” strategy may be intentional. Jill Stein, a Green Party candidate, is a spoiler backed by both the MAGA movement and Russian politicians. Her website describes her as an environmental activist who fights against “environmental racism, injustice, and pollution” to “revitalize democracy.” However, Jill Stein is not running for president purely to save the trees. In 2015, Jill Stein and MAGA fanatic Michael Flynn had dinner with Vladimir Putin. Stein is a tool for the Russians to ensure Trump’s re-election—the more votes she takes from Harris, the better. The Russians promoted her campaign in 2016 as well. The Internet Research Agency, run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Putin, tweeted Jill Stein’s name over one thousand times during November of 2016. More recently, Stein has promoted anti-Ukrainian propaganda. In 2022, she declared that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “provoked response” to the “more murderous and illegal game plan of [the] US empire.” Jill Stein acts as a puppet to Putin and Trump, disguised as a friendly tree-hugging activist. Third parties should not be used as a vehicle to sway presidential elections towards a certain larger party. In order to prevent this, third party options must campaign locally first.
Voting for a third party may leave you with a sense of moral superiority. You don’t have to choose between the lesser of two evils. You can leave the voting booth with a clean conscience. But before you vote for a third party candidate, take a moment to reflect. Can this person actually win the presidential election? If the answer is no, don’t waste your vote.