What would the percentages be had the questions been "Should people who attempt to overthrow the government by force be shot?" and "Will violence be necessary to rid America of racism?"
I'm quite pessimistic on how to achieve electoral reform and institutional reform. One of the more plausible ones is increasing the size of the House of Representatives, but even that seems unlikely.
In It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Mann and Ornstein write
"Without a system of runoff elections or ranked preferences, a third-party candidate could well produce an outcome a majority of voters would not favor and become of a spoiler than anything else. In 2012, a centrist third-party candidate would be more likely to siphon votes from Obama, given the policies he has supported and those the Republican candidates espouse. When you have two centrist candidates running against one conservative, the advantage will clearly go to the latter, even though the conservative's positions will be less likely in line with the majority."
A third party is one of if not the most talked about solution. It dominates the discussion, but it's clearly not feasible under the current American electoral system, and most likely would backfire.
What would the percentages be had the questions been "Should people who attempt to overthrow the government by force be shot?" and "Will violence be necessary to rid America of racism?"
Hi Elliott,
I'm quite pessimistic on how to achieve electoral reform and institutional reform. One of the more plausible ones is increasing the size of the House of Representatives, but even that seems unlikely.
In It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, Mann and Ornstein write
"Without a system of runoff elections or ranked preferences, a third-party candidate could well produce an outcome a majority of voters would not favor and become of a spoiler than anything else. In 2012, a centrist third-party candidate would be more likely to siphon votes from Obama, given the policies he has supported and those the Republican candidates espouse. When you have two centrist candidates running against one conservative, the advantage will clearly go to the latter, even though the conservative's positions will be less likely in line with the majority."
A third party is one of if not the most talked about solution. It dominates the discussion, but it's clearly not feasible under the current American electoral system, and most likely would backfire.
I hope you are having a good weekend,
Elliot