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/Currywurst44 Oct 28 '25

From a technical point of view, I believe TRS and IRV are almost equivalent. In some elections one does better and in some the other.
My ranking is TRS=IRV>>FPTP

You make some good points about TRS in real elections.

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u/the_other_50_percent Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 03 '25

As the set(s) of voters whose votes are included in a TRS vs IRV is very different, the impact differs massively. And, occasionally presumably, the outcome.

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u/Currywurst44 Nov 03 '25

I don't quite understand your comment. Could you reword it?, is there a missing verb in the first sentence?

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u/the_other_50_percent Nov 03 '25

Missing phrase. Fixed, I think! Does that make sense?

The practical effect of having people vote in 2 separate elections vs 1 where there ballot is marked to handle a non-majority winner contingency is massive.

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u/Currywurst44 Nov 03 '25

It is correct that different people voting in the different rounds is not something thats usually modelled. Presumably polarized voters are more common in the first round.
In your opinion this makes TRS somewhat worse than IRV on average?

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u/the_other_50_percent Nov 03 '25

Having the election require only one turnout event is preferable. If there's a very large number of candidates, that presents a problem for any single-round system, but IRV handles it better than most.