WI: Ralph Nader Was In 2000 Presidential Debates?

Perot was polling way higher than Nadar ever was. For this to make sense, Nadar needs to at least break 15% in the polls. At one point, Perot was winning the popular vote according to polling.

And remember that in 1996, even Perot--who had received 19% of the vote four years earlier!--was not allowed in the debates.
 
To put it in perspective, if Gore would have received *51%* of the Nader voters (49,719) and Bush 49% (47,776) Gore would have carried Florida. For that matter, if it would have been 50.5%-49.5% (49,231-48,257) Gore would still have won... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000

Basically, you have to assume not just that Nader voters did not *overwhelmingly* prefer Gore to Bush (I agree they didn't) or even that their preferences were a "near tie"--there would have to be something very close to an *actual* tie in the breakdown of Nader votes between Gore and Bush for you to argue Nader voters didn't cost Gore the election.
 
To put it in perspective, if Gore would have received *51%* of the Nader voters (49,719) and Bush 49% (47,776) Gore would have carried Florida. For that matter, if it would have been 50.5%-49.5% (49,231-48,257) Gore would still have won...
I very much agree! :) Although it might be interesting that Nader voters merely split 60 to 40% between Gore and Bush, with Nader getting 97,000+ votes in Florida and the state being razor close, yes, even a much smaller split is more than enough to make a difference.
 
Al Gore did poorly in the debates by audibly sighing and otherwise being disrespectful while Bush was talking, and yes, I think it did make a difference with undecided voters.

If Nader is part of a three-person debate, Al may be on his better behavior. At the very least, it provides a reshuffle and Al may merely get lucky.
 
To me the most interesting finding of Herron and Lewis is not so much about *how* Nader (and Buchanan) voters voted in the down-ballot races (which were straight D vs. R, without Green or Reform candidates). It is that they *did* vote in those races--sometimes more than people who voted for Bush or Gore did! This at least throws some doubt on the notion that Nader voters were so disenchanted with the two-party system that they would just have stayed home if Nader had not been a candidate.
 
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