06-29-2020, 01:32 PM
Some people blame Ralph Nadar for costing Al Gore the '00 election
In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida (and Pat Buchanan and Harry Browne received 17,484 and 16,415 respectively), which led to claims that Nader was responsible for Gore's defeat. Critics rarely mention Buchanan (who should be considered due to the butterfly ballot) or Browne. Nader, both in his book Crashing the Party and on his website, states: "In the year 2000, exit polls reported that 25% of my voters would have voted for Bush, 38% would have voted for Gore and the rest would not have voted at all" (which would net a 13%, 12,665 votes, advantage for Gore over Bush). Similarly, in New Hampshire, Bush won a plurality by garnering 273,559 votes, 48.07%, to Gore's 266,348 votes, 46.80%. The 22,198 votes for Nader (3.90%) was triple the margin of victory for Bush (the combined 4,372 votes for Buchanan and Browne fall below the margin of difference). If Gore had received all of Nader's NH votes, he would have won with 15,000 to spare, but if Nader's figures of 38% for Gore and 25% for Bush held true, Gore would not have carried NH. When asked about claims of being a spoiler, Nader typically points to the controversial Supreme Court ruling that halted a Florida recount, Gore's loss in his home state of Tennessee, and the "quarter million Democrats who voted for Bush in Florida."
In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida (and Pat Buchanan and Harry Browne received 17,484 and 16,415 respectively), which led to claims that Nader was responsible for Gore's defeat. Critics rarely mention Buchanan (who should be considered due to the butterfly ballot) or Browne. Nader, both in his book Crashing the Party and on his website, states: "In the year 2000, exit polls reported that 25% of my voters would have voted for Bush, 38% would have voted for Gore and the rest would not have voted at all" (which would net a 13%, 12,665 votes, advantage for Gore over Bush). Similarly, in New Hampshire, Bush won a plurality by garnering 273,559 votes, 48.07%, to Gore's 266,348 votes, 46.80%. The 22,198 votes for Nader (3.90%) was triple the margin of victory for Bush (the combined 4,372 votes for Buchanan and Browne fall below the margin of difference). If Gore had received all of Nader's NH votes, he would have won with 15,000 to spare, but if Nader's figures of 38% for Gore and 25% for Bush held true, Gore would not have carried NH. When asked about claims of being a spoiler, Nader typically points to the controversial Supreme Court ruling that halted a Florida recount, Gore's loss in his home state of Tennessee, and the "quarter million Democrats who voted for Bush in Florida."
