Spoiler effect

Imagine you and your friends are deciding which ice cream flavor to choose from a list of three: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Let's say that you really want to vote for strawberry, but you hear from one of your friends that most people are going to vote for vanilla.

Now, you get worried that your vote for strawberry won't count. You think it's pointless to choose strawberry, so you decide to vote for vanilla instead because it has a better chance of winning.

This is what is called the spoiler effect, where voters are hesitant to choose their favorite candidate because they believe that it's unlikely that their candidate will win against another strong candidate. They would choose another candidate whom they like as much, but has a better chance of winning, even if it isn't their favorite.

This effect can have a significant impact on election results, causing a candidate with the most votes to lose because of the presence of a "spoiler" candidate, who splits the vote between similar candidates.

In simple terms, the spoiler effect happens when people don't vote for their preferred candidate because they think it won't matter and instead end up choosing a different candidate who they think has a better chance of winning.