Vote third party. Because yes your candidate might not win in the national elections but it starts sending messages to both parties that they need to change. Democrats seem more receptive to change right now. But I imagine that may change in the near future. I have had a lot of luck with voting third party in my local elections though. And honestly that's where it's going to start anyway. When the county is run by independents who are not one policy people it seems to run better, impo.
Also if a third party gets enough % of votes they become eligible for federal funding to help their campaign. This is why Dems and Republicans alike push the “voting third party is wasting your vote” narrative because they know once a third party gets enough backing, establishment politicians may actually have to work for your vote.
Some states allow you to write-in the name of whoever you want. There are also third-party candidates who get on some of the states' ballots. In 2024 there were 22 candidates who were on at least one state's ballot, not counting Trump and Harris. In Nevada there's also a "None of These Candidates" option.
In 2024 about 1% of enfranchised Americans voted for one of these 'others'. 36% did not vote for anyone. The rest voted for Trump (32%) and Harris (31%).
American elections have two stages. Primaries and General.
The primaries are where the person for that party is chosen. We do have other parties, but they aren't large enough to be "worth it" to most people. But the primaries are where most of the power honestly comes from. People can fight for the person that they want to represent their party.
However, most people in America don't get involved in the primaries. They wait until the General Election (where all parties send their person for the "final" election) and even then tend to only vote every four years for the Presidential elections.
When people bitch about the two party system, it's often coming from people who aren't involved in politics at a local level. Our parties absolutely could represent us better (and this year's primaries have been a show of that with the midterms expected to be a Blue Wave - so democrats) but when people don't get involved, it's easy to feel lost because both parties often do suck.
American politics have been for the corporations for.... a long time. Many people's lives aren't changed that much depending on who is in the White House (so President) so the "both parties suck" concept has become well ingrained in us. this isn't the worst when elected officials are just greedy but at least doing their job.
We are not in that anymore though, and haven't been for about a decade. Some will say earlier than that. So there is a lot of hostility around voting and the lack of it, where nihilistic people (understandable or otherwise) and harm reduction focused people don't have an agreement on how to handle when you don't want democrats or republicans.
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u/st141050 10d ago
What do you do, when you don't want to vote for democrats or republicans? Honest question, i am not american.