The Alaska data shows that this is not the case. For instance, if Palin had dropped out, Begich would have won. Palin pulled enough votes from Begich in the fir

The Alaska data shows that this is not the case. For instance, if Palin had dropped out, Begich would have won. Palin pulled enough votes from Begich in the first round that Begich was eliminated, even though he would have beaten Peltola in the final. Almost all Palin voters would have preferred Begich to Peltola, so they could have gotten a better result by lying about their preferences and strategically voting for Begich as their first choice. Expressing their views honestly resulted in a worse outcome than if they had expressed their views dishonestly. Among voting nerds this failure mode is referred to as "favorite betrayal" -- https://electowiki.org/wiki/Favorite_betrayal_criterion https://electowiki.org/wiki/Favorite_betrayal_criterion