Can a majority prefer A to B, B to C, and C to A?
Three people can each have a perfectly consistent ranking and still create a majority that goes in a circle. With rankings A–B–C, B–C–A and C–A–B, each option beats one rival and loses to another. No option wins every head-to-head vote.
Questions you could explore
- Could changing the order of pairwise votes change the final winner?
Start reading
- Eric Pacuit; Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyVoting Methods
The worked example shows how individual rankings produce a majority cycle.
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