Did you watch last night’s Republican presidential debate? The last question of
the night pointed to the fundamental flaws in our single-choice elections.
Donate Today Dear John,

Did you watch last night’s Republican presidential debate? Thelast question of
the nightpointed to the fundamental flaws in our single-choice elections:

“If you all stay in the race, former President Donald Trump wins the nomination.
None of you have indicated that you’re dropping out. So, which one of you on
stage tonight should be voted off the island?”

Imagine if our presidential primaries usedranked choice voting(RCV)!

Instead of effectively asking candidates “which of your competitors is the
worst,” the moderator could ask: “Who is your second choice?” Also:

* Candidates wouldn’t be pressured to drop out of the race to prevent
vote-splitting – months before a single vote has been cast.
* A candidate could win with a majority of the party behind them – even with
over a dozencandidates in the race.
* Voters who cast early ballots for candidates who then drop out wouldn’t see
their votesgo to waste.
* Voters could vote honestly, not strategically. No more worrying about whether
to vote for their favorite candidate, or a candidate they think can win.

The good news? Ranked choice voting has already been used in some states’
presidential primaries, and that will continue in 2024!

Read on:

* To see the results of our ranked choiceGOP primary poll,
* To find out which Republican Party is already planning touse RCV in 2024, and
* To learn how RCVimproved Democratic primariesin 2020.

RCV poll provides insights on 2024 field

WPA Intelligence and FairVote fielded a national poll of 800 likely Republican
presidential primary voters following the first Republican presidential debate
in August.

The ranked choice poll provides more information than a single-choice poll on
voter preferences, including voters’ backup choices and which candidate they
prefer if their favorite drops out of the race.

Key takeaways:

* Donald Trump leads with 49% of voters’ first-choices, and remains the clear
front-runner.
* Nine candidates are eliminated before Trump reaches a majority of votes,
showing that voters who don’t pick Trump as their first choice rarely pick
him as their second choice.
* When the race is run down to two candidates, Trump beats Ron DeSantis
head-to-head (56%-44%).
* DeSantis (47%) and Vivek Ramaswamy (28%) are by far the most common second
choices for Trump voters.
* Republican voters are open to ranked choice voting, with 45% in support and
36% opposed.

Notably, Nikki Haley gains more support than anyone else when Tim Scott is
eliminated, suggesting South Carolina Republicans are divided between their
home-state favorites and would consolidate around the stronger option if given
the chance. In last night’s debate, Haley and Scott confronted each other over
niche issues, like a 10-cent gas tax increase in South Carolina. Both seem to
have concluded that in the single-choice race, it’s crucial to tear down anyone
they could “split the vote” with rather than highlight areas of agreement.

With ranked choice polling, we can also see how each candidate performs
head-to-head against each of their opponents, and identify “consensus
candidates” frequently ranked among voters’ top choices (for example, the number
of voters who rank Trump or DeSantis in their top 3 or top 5).

See more findings from the poll on FairVote’s website. FairVote is planning to
field another poll soon to see how voters’ views changed after the second
debate.

Virgin Islands GOP embraces RCV

The Republican Party in the Virgin Islands recentlyannouncedits plans to use
ranked choice voting for its 2024 presidential caucus. U.S. territories don’t
get to vote in presidential general elections, so the primaries are voters’ only
chance to weigh in on our nation’s leader. RCV will let them make the most of
it.

With RCV, Virgin Islands Republicans won’t have to worry about voting
strategically like voters elsewhere in the country, and whoever wins the
territory’s delegates will have the clear support of the party behind them. So
far, leading candidates including Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and Haley have
filed for the Virgin Islands RCV primary.

“Given the large field of presidential candidates, I encourage my fellow
Republican state party chairmen to support ranked-choice voting in the primaries
and caucuses. A presidential nominee supported by a majority—not a plurality!—of
voters is best-positioned to win in Nov 2024.” –Gordon Ackley, Chairman of the
Republican Party in the Virgin Islands

RCV in Democratic presidential primaries

Republicans aren’t the only ones embracing RCV. Five state Democratic parties
used RCV in their2020 presidential primaries: Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, and
Wyoming for all voters, and Nevada for early voters.

RCV made more votes count, and gave voters the freedom to vote with their
hearts. Across the primary season,over 3 million Democrats "wasted"their votes
on candidates who dropped out before Primary Day. That wasn't the case in RCV
states, where your vote would simply count for your second choice if your
favorite dropped out!

Almost three in four voterschose to rank multiple candidates on their ballots,
even though Joe Biden was already the presumptive nominee by the time most RCV
states voted. This shows voters were enthusiastic about the option to rank
candidates, and found ranking their ballots simple!

The future of RCV in presidential primaries

The Virgin Islands Republican caucus will be held no later than March 2, and
Maine plans to use RCV in its Democratic and Republican state-run primaries on
March 5 (Super Tuesday). We also expect many of the state Democratic parties
that used RCV last time to use it again this time, though they’re still
finalizing their plans. We’re excited to see RCV in action in all those places
and beyond!

To support our work bringing RCV to presidential primaries and more, please
consider a donationto FairVote Action. With your help, we’ll make elections
fairer for every American.

Sincerely,
Brian Cannon
FairVote Action Director of Advocacy

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