File:2D election example with vote splitting and spoiler effect.png

Summary

This is an example simulation of an election on a 2-dimensional political spectrum (such as the Political Compass, Nolan chart, Pournelle chart, etc.)

There are 3000 voters (black dots), 3 candidates (colored dots), and voters vote honestly, supporting the candidates who are most similar to them ideologically (nearest distance).

• C, a partisan candidate, wins under first-past-the-post voting, since A and B split the votes of the left wing of the electorate.
• A, another partisan candidate, wins under Instant-Runoff Voting ("Ranked-Choice Voting"), after B is eliminated for not having enough first-preference votes, leaving A and C (and A is slightly closer to the center, so more people in the center support A over C).
• B, a moderate candidate, and the best representative of the average voter, wins under Score Voting (with normalized ballots), as they are the highest-rated overall by the voters. B also wins under Condorcet methods, as B would beat both A and C in head-to-head elections.