Disapproval voting: Difference between revisions

After the [[U.S. presidential election, 2000]], some commentators suggested that the ability to approve of a candidate, but disapprove of his or her party affilation or elements of his or her platform, might be quite important, and that satisfaction of citizens with the political system might well depend on such an [[electoral reform]].

A group of members of the [[Green Party of the United States]], calling itself "[[Greens for Gore]]", made explicit the fact that they were voting for Gore but supported not the platform of the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] which nominated him, but that of their own Green Party, which they called on Gore to implement. This is an example of disapproval voting on an informal level, where voters found a way to approve of the candidate, while disapproving of party and platform - and of his key opponent, [[George W. Bush]].

It is also often said that votes for a "[[protest candidate]]" or a "[[compromise candidate]]" can be viewed as disapproval votes, since the undesirable characteristics of the incumbent or alternative, respectively, can be said to be the voters' main concern. This of course is impossible to determine from the electoral results, as a vote intended to choose that candidate is indistinguishable in most systems from one that was intended to block or disapprove of another.