There have been many instances in which there have been two candidates that split the votes of their party, leading to the loss of both candidates. The specific case that we just covered in class was between Taft and Roosevelt. These two were both in the republican party, but they greatly differed in opinion and personality. While Roosevelt was very outgoing and progressive, Taft was somewhat introverted and kept his ideas close to his chest. Taft worked with big businesses, and Roosevelt worked in defiance of them. The aforementioned differences and more drove a wedge between not only Taft and Roosevelt themselves, but also the conservative and progressive republican party. This split led to a democratic win for Woodrow Wilson.
Something similar happened in 2016 with the presidential election, and democratic election that preceded it. There was a lot of support thrown at Bernie Sanders, and when he lost the presidential candidacy, a lot of democrats refused to support Hillary Clinton, the new democratic candidate. This led to many people either choosing not to vote, or voting for third-party candidates that, frankly, had no chance of winning. What would have happened had Bernie Sanders won the democratic candidacy? Would Clinton supporters have done the same as many Sanders supporters did? Would Trump still have won the presidency?
