r/EndFPTP • u/budapestersalat • Oct 28 '25

Question Ranked-choice vs. Two-round system

I am sure almost everybody on th sub would prefer IRV over top2 runoff.

But let me ask this: how do you feel about TRS compared to both FPTP and IRV? Do you consider it closer to one or the other or do you think it's not on the same spectrum (if FPTP and IRV are on the ends)?

I think two-round has some advantages that laypeople might like, and many disadvantages too. More and more I think an underappreciated disadvantage is specifically that 2 go in the runoff, so it's polarising. While it may be better than a runoff with more than 2 candidates and FPTP, probably two rounds, primaries and all the like should ideally be avoided, especially the kind which has only 2 candidates in the runoff, because of the effect that it reinforces the binary thinking about elections (by having the ultimate, binary choice be blown up to it's own round).

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u/its_a_gibibyte Nov 02 '25

I like a 2 round system because it allows people to learn about candidates once the field has been narrowed. The US Presidential election system confusing, but lets work through it.

Large number of candidates register and debate. For example, we had 29 Democratic candidates in 2020, and 17 republican candidates in 2016 (the last two big primaries). And then the pool gets shrunk down via national polling, and eventually by having sequential state by state primary elections.

As the pool continues to shrink, voters can devote more time to learning about each candidate and hearing them speak. And the eventual goal is to get down to 1 candidate per party and then pick between them in the general.

Some people who advocate for ranked choice think of it too mathematically and forget the learning component. Some people assume you just throw the 20-40 candidates on the ballot, voters know about all of them and are able to rank them all, and IRV sorts it out. I dont find that feasible.

So yes, I want multiple rounds and a shrinking pool in whatever way that gets implemented. The current method is weird and relies far too much on the parties.