Some people forget that in order to win the Presidential election, one candidate has to get 270 votes in the Electoral College.
In absence of one candidate getting 270 Electoral College votes, the House of Representatives elects the next President of the United States.
If a third party candidate does moderately well enough to prohibit the largest vote getter from becoming President, is this the Congress you want electing the next President?
Believe me, Michael Bloomberg knows this all too well.
Bloomberg will not risk a Cruz or Trump Victory."But when I look at the data, it?s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win. I believe I could win a number of diverse states -- but not enough to win the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the presidency.
In a three-way race, it?s unlikely any candidate would win a majority of electoral votes, and then the power to choose the president would be taken out of the hands of the American people and thrown to Congress. The fact is, even if I were to receive the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, victory would be highly unlikely, because most members of Congress would vote for their party?s nominee. Party loyalists in Congress -- not the American people or the Electoral College -- would determine the next president.
As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience."