Is a vote for a third-party candidate more powerful in some states than in others?
Votes for third parties in states with closely balanced support for the two major parties can have a more substantial impact than in states with more lopsided partisan alignments.
This is clearest in presidential races, with state-by-state winner-take-all decisions to determine each state's Electoral College vote. In "battleground states" that routinely swing narrowly between Democrats and Republicans, a relatively small number of votes for a third-party candidate can be decisive. In 2000, supporters of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader swung Florida's, and the nation's, presidential choice. Nader won 97,488 votes in the state, while George Bush and Al Gore each received just under 3 million. In the end, after a Supreme Court ruling ending recounts, Bush was declared the victor with a margin of 537 votes, giving him the edge in the Electoral College.