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tactical voting

British

noun

(in an election) the practice of casting one's vote not for the party of one's choice but for the second strongest contender in order to defeat the likeliest winner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But the localised nature of tactical voting makes it quite hard to tell, from nationwide polls where people just say which party they like the best, how results will play out in any given constituency.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

A similar tactical voting strategy has been tried before, not always with success.

From New York Times • Sep. 15, 2021

He declared his smart voting tactic a success at local Moscow elections in 2019 after 20 candidates backed by his tactical voting plan won seats in the city legislature.

From Reuters • Aug. 19, 2021

We are starting to see the pollsters respond to the tactical voting arrangements by parties.

From BBC • Nov. 19, 2019

Here is Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, on tactical voting.

From The Guardian • Oct. 30, 2019

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023