It's a fundamental problem with a first-past-the-post voting system. Third parties act as spoilers. That's why I'm a proponent of ranked choice. It's not a panacea. It doesn't fix everything, but it removes the spoiler effect. Then people can vote their conscience with their first choice.

It's not a coincidence that the leadership of both parties hate it. They can't run a traditional campaign with wedge issues. Good. I'm tired of a divided country. The party leadership can suffer through appealing to a broad part of the electorate.