Majority? Expressivity? Strategy?

[Richard Moore]

DEMOREP1 at aol.com wrote:

> D- Another example-
>
> A pre-election poll indicates-
>
> A 34
> B 33
> C 32
>
>    99
>
> Does anybody vote for second choices if a majority requirement is NOT
> required in the election (as for President, Governor or Mayor) ???

What method are you asking about?

Under Plurality, with such a close race, everyone does stick to their
favorite.
If Nader has 32%, you can bet Nader voters will stick with their man. Add a
majority requirement and a top-two runoff if it fails to be met, and I don't
think you'll see anything change.

Under Approval, voters who like two candidates and despise the third (with
utilities of 100, 90, and 0, for example), will vote for their favorite and
their
second choice, as insurance against the least favorite winning. Voters who
only like one candidate (100, 10, and 0) will bullet vote.

So I don't really see the point of the example.

Richard