What if Trump and Sanders Both Ran as 3rd Party Candidates?

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

A friend asked me, what would happen if Clinton and Rubio win the primaries, but Trump AND Sanders both run as 3rd party candidates? We haven't seen an election with four legitimate (in that they each would have large followings and a chance to win) candidates for president in the last hundred years.

I decided to project which candidate would win each state in this theoretical example. My assumptions were that Trump would do well in the Bible belt, Clinton would do well in the Mid-Atlantic states as well as classic Democratic strongholds in the Mid-West, Sanders would do well in New England and California, and Rubio would do well everywhere else. What this led me to was:

2015-12-09-1449691869-2380788-ScreenShot20151209at2.50.49PM.png
So, we end up with:

Trump, 14 States, 88 Electoral Votes
Sanders, 11 States, 124 Electoral Votes
Clinton, 12 States, 152 Electoral Votes
Rubio, 13 States, 170 Electoral Votes

What does this mean? This would mean that for the first time since 1824, the House of Representatives would choose the President of the United States. Under the Constitution, if no candidate gets a majority of the votes, the three highest vote getters would be put before the House of Representatives with each state getting one vote.

To me, in this scenario, there would be no bargain like there famously was in 1824 with Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. This is because even if Clinton and Sanders formed a coalition around one of them, Rubio would still win. The fact of the matter is, right now, there are more Republican states than Democratic states. There are more Democrats, but they are often concentrated in urban areas. Although it should be said that Donald Trump is the definition of a wild card so it is impossible to say which direction he would send his support.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-law/what-if-trump-and-sanders_b_8761356.html

A politics buff can dream right? 

[Fishrrman]

Posted by me to this site in July of 2015:
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It's mid-October 2016. It's also the first 4-way presidential race in modern times.

Running on the democratic ticket is Hillary Clinton. Polls show her with support of 29% of likely voters. But her terrible performance in both campaign speeches and interviews is hurting her, as well as a near-breakdown in the second televised debate.

Nipping at Hillary's heels is Bernie Sanders, running for his newly-minted Social Independent party. He's pulling 22% of likely voters, but he is gaining vis-a-vis Hillary. Bernie is hitting hard with his populist/liberalist/socialist theme, to enthusiastic young audiences. This is clearly his last hurrah and he's upbeat and making hay out of it. Adding to Sanders' momentum is his VP candidate, Elizabeth Warren, who graciously accepted his offer for the spot.

Struggling with the Republican ticket is Jeb Bush. He's been saddled by weakness on immigration, and new revelations about how his wife got into the country years ago. He's currently pulling about 22% of the voters.

Finally, there is Donald Trump, running on the American Restoration Party ticket. Against all odds, Trump has built a strong conservative base with loose but frank talk that resonates with many Americans. Trump is running without a VP co-candidate, but he's stated that if elected, he will ask Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to hire on as Vice President and chief advisor. He's polling around 28% and is gaining. After his closing speech in the last debate, in which he proclaimed "No more Bushes! No more Clintons!", he seems not only to be pulling voters from Bush, but some from Hillary's side as well.

Who ya gonna vote for?