How could Sanders have given the election to Trump? He got the bulk of his write-ins in California, Vermont, and New Hampshire, which all went for Clinton. A proportion of former Sanders supporters voted for Trump, but that makes them Trump voters, not Sanders'.

On the other hand, Nader did get far more votes than Bush's margin in Florida. But those votes weren't added to Bush's total. Gore just didn't

Focusing on hypothetical results if minor candidates had not existed distracts from the actual reasons the candidates lost: Gore was an inept campaigner who would have won had he been able to carry his own home state. Clinton was a very weak candidate who was especially vulnerable to the vicious disinformation campaign waged against her.

Centrists need to examine the process where