There is more than one option in this election
By: Stephen Buechter
Staff Writer
Lesser-evil voting will likely be prevalent in this election, as both major parties have candidates with very high disapproval ratings, even within their own parties.
I personally dislike both candidates quite a bit, and I will personally vote for neither the Republican or Democratic candidate for president.
Supporting either candidate is showing some level of support for the candidates, who are seen as deeply awed candidates even within their own party. Electing either one would possibly convince the leaders of those parties that such divisive and unpleasant tactics may work in other elections. That would be far from an improvement for a political system which already has a reputation for being excessively divided.
If the turnout for the election is extremely low compared to previous election years, America’s two major political parties may consider choosing less extreme candidates for the sake of drawing out more voters in following years. This may allow for more compromises to be made and for more of the public to be supportive of their government, instead of focusing purely on attacking the other party as seems to be common in the current political climate.
Voting for a third party candidate, such as Gary Johnson or Jill Stein could draw voters away from the two major parties and allowing voters more choice for electing representatives in government. More variety in representatives for government can only be a good thing, as it would allow voters to view more stances on issues and can assist in providing voters with a wider variety of options in their political decisions.
Many people feel trapped between two viewpoints that they do not fully support, so changing the stances of the two major parties by refusing to support them or by supporting other parties entirely may cause significant changes for the better in our good — but partisan — political system.
