Some conservatives, refusing to vote for Donald Trump, are hatching a “Machiavellian” solution to the problem of whom to vote for. They are going to vote for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein. Why? If the Greens get 5% of the vote, they will qualify for federal funds in 2020, which will let them be more competitive next time. The conservatives believe that if this happens, the Greens will split the leftist vote, hurting the Democrats against a revived Republican party.
Is this over-thinking? Is that a legitimate strategy, to vote AGAINST what you believe, as a tactic to advance your agenda long-term?
Could you make a similar case to vote for the Libertarians, despite dissatisfaction with these particular candidates, to help them become a force in the future? Libertarians would surely turn down the federal money. But their immediate goal is to score 15% in upcoming polls so that their candidate Gary Johnson could participate in the debates against Trump and Hillary Clinton. Telling pollsters you are for the Libertarian candidate could result in at least someone in the debates arguing for conservative economics.
From Bill Scher, Can the Green Party Win With ‘Jill, Not Hill’? – POLITICO Magazine:
The Green Party’s objective is not to spoil for the sake of spoiling; it’s to win at least 5 percent of the popular vote. That threshold would qualify the Green Party for public campaign funds to use in the 2020 presidential campaign that party officials estimate would amount to more than $10 million. With a more reliable funding stream, the Green Party would be more able to retain the far left slice of the electorate, and become a perennial thorn in the Democratic side.
And strangely enough—though perhaps nothing is too strange this political season—the Greens could get their biggest lift from disaffected Republicans. Even if the prospect of President Donald Trump is too frightening for many of the left to take the risk of the Green vote, that dynamic could be offset by Republicans going Green.
Why? Conservative author Matt Lewis shared with me on our online weekly DMZ Show that he talked to an unnamed “Republican strategist” who, unwilling to vote for Trump, is planning to vote for Stein in a Machiavellian move to aid the Green Party’s quest for major party status, which could divide the left.
