How would the NYC primary looked different if it wasn't ranked choice. I not sure it actually matters for single seat elections. If you don't rank either of the top 2 candidates it's like your vote won't matter anyways.

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 4 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Believe it or not but there are many people who would have voted for both Mamdani and Cuomo. They just would rank Cuomintang #1 because they’re sus of a brown person supporting Palestine, but they like Mamdani’s smile so they give him a #2 anyway.

Single choice elections give outsized influence on single issues and make it easier to manipulate the discussion one way or another. All you have to do is build a narrative that Mamdani = bad economics, Mamdani = jihadist, etc. and suddenly his polling collapses even if nobody particularly dislikes him. People are less willing to take a chance if they feel like they can make only one selection.