Hi Forest, --- En date de : Mer 25.5.11, [email protected] <[email protected]> a écrit : > The main problem is determining (through the disinformation > noise) who the front runners really are. > Suppose the zero-information front runners to be candidates > A and B, but that the media created front > runners are C and D. If everybody votes for one of > these two falsely advertised front runners, then they > become the front runners, but only through self fulfilling > prophecy.
The difference between Approval and Plurality here is that in Plurality when the frontrunners are A and B, generally only A and B can win. Under Approval it is not guaranteed that the winner will be one of these candidates, as long as C or D haven't dropped out of the race. If the perceived frontrunners are actually the worst candidates, any better candidates should receive a vast number of votes. If C or D are clones of A/B then I think they probably would drop out of the race. But if we are simply electing the wrong clone, that doesn't seem like an enormous problem. Kevin ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
