Let’s say you run a poll to decide between three potential outcomes.
40% of voters want outcome A, 35% want outcome B, and 25% want outcome C.
The results of this poll would generally lead to outcome A being put into effect, as it received the most votes. The issue is that options B and C combine for 60% of the poll’s votes. 60% of voters did NOT want outcome A to happen, so putting that outcome into effect makes the majority of voters unhappy.
This may seem fairly obvious, but I feel like I see polls like this quite often to decide simple things like what activity a group should partake in. Another big example of this is the Minecraft mob votes. Those always got me thinking about how flawed the system is. Unless the highest voted option is a landslide victory, it’s likely the outcome decided by the poll will actually be the unideal option for the majority of the group of voters due to vote splitting.
Though more time consuming (and not worth the hassle in most cases lol), especially with polls containing several choices, a rank system or an “eliminating the lowest voted option and running it back” system would be a better way to find an outcome that truly pleases the majority.
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As you have pointed out at the end, thats what preferential voting is for, also known as single transferable vote (STV). Its a fucking shame many countries do not use this.
Your conclusion that 60% didn’t want A is flawed. 60% expressed a preference for B or C, but in your example nobody was asked their opposition to any of them. It may well be that 90% wanted A, though some wanted B or C more.
This is the real flaw with binary choice (you can either vote for an option, or not). More nuanced polling is what is needed.
Veritaseum covered this in detail.
Ranked choice voting in a runoff style system should be implemented in all democracies
That way insane/racist parties wouldn’t be able to come 2nd or 3rd so often, due to a majority of people always putting them dead last