AV, status quo bias and definitions
One of the arguments given against the Alternative Vote system is (as laid out in this good but rather long post ) that " Under AV the person who comes second can win. " Gowers points out in the linked article that this is not true - all it means is that the person who would have come second under FPTP can win . Of course, the whole point of the referendum is that a different person could win under AV than under FPTP. The reverse argument is equally true: the person who would have come second under AV might win under FPTP. But why does this argument have such appeal? Even AV defenders are trying to make a rational case for why it may be more democratic for "the person who came second" to win. Instead, one might expect them to challenge the premise. The reason seems to be that the status quo bias is very strong here. People who might think they don't suffer from status quo bias (in that they have no particular desire to keep the existing voting system) may...