Because the vote counts for George W. Bush and Al Gore differed by only 537 votes, many Democrats blamed Ralph Nader and the Green Party for their loss. Let's consider how the election results might have differed if the approval voting method had been used.

Use Table 11.3 and the following assumptions to extrapolate the results of an approval method election:

- 100 percent of Pat Buchanan supporters would approve George W. Bush.

- 100 percent of Ralph Nader supporters would approve Al Gore.

- 72 percent of Libertarians would approve George W. Bush.

- 28 percent of Libertarians would approve Al Gore (as was roughly the known percentage at the time according to the Cato Institute).

- 50 percent of the supporters of other candidates would approve George Bush while 50 percent would approve Al Gore.

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Candidate Party Votes Percentage (G) George W. Bush Republican 2,912,790 48.85% (A) Al Gore Democrat 2,912,253 48.84%