Alternative Voting Systems

Testing Alternative Voting Systems

Some voting experts assert that an alternative voting system, as opposed to the current plurality voting system, would more honestly reflect the will of the people in political elections. Focusing on the presidential election of 2016, PolicyInteractive conducted five sequential studies which together explored the question: would Americans be open to an alternative voting system for presidential elections?

Using electronic mock ballots, participants compared the standard U.S. voting system of plurality voting to three championed alternatives: approval voting, range voting, and instant-runoff voting (IRV). Although a majority of the study participants supported the idea of revamping the current voting system, there was a lack of strong support for the specific alternative voting systems tested in these five studies. Survey was in English only.

Registered visitors can view detailed results (see our Access Policy):

• Full report and methodology