[EM] Approval Voting vs Instant Runoff Voting

[LAYTON Craig]

I won't copy any of the messages on this topic, but I'll just comment
generally;

Mike, I agree with you.  Condorcet is better than Approval.  That's
basically what I'm arguing.  I think that there are a number of posters who
now prefer Approval to Condocet (and, who are possibly in the majority).
Like you and Forest who don't consider Gore to be an acceptable compromise,
I don't see Approval to be an acceptable compromise.  

I still think that IRV is slightly better for political elections in the
current 2 party climate, but Approval is much better for non-political
elections, or if a multi-party environment eventuated.  (Approval is
definately superior generally, but while there are only two candidates with
a reasonable chance of winning, IRV is more reliable).

Okay, don't innundate me with anti-IRV messages for that (please!).  I know
how bad a system it is when there are more than two candidates with a chance
of winning.

One last example.  Gore-Nader-Bush is still a popular example.  Despite the
protestations of Nader supporters, I really don't think the guy had a chance
of winning.  In the extreme-right world of American politics, he is a very
extreme candidate, and wouldn't be likely to attract votes beyond his core
support base (mainly middle class university educated voters in cities, I
would imagine).  It has been pointed out, quite rightly (by either Mike or
Forest) that, even though the Nader supporters knew that they might cost
Gore the election, they went ahead and voted for him anyway.  Many of these
voters would vote for only Nader in an Approval election, especially those
who honestly believe that he's got a good chance of winning.

Okay, so they do this, and Bush wins by a tiny margin and some help from his
brother.  This is despite the fact that Gore is preferred to Bush by a
majority of voters.  I really don't think it's relevant what the utility
values of the voters were, or how many were prepared to use strategy and how
many weren't, or whether the voters were risk takers or not...  it just
isn't a democratic result - the majority prefer another candidate.