.........

Then why is 1/3 of Americans third party?

Bro, republicans are made up of conservatives whom are Christians, democrats are made up of liberals whom are atheists and or occultists, and third partiers have several names such as “independents” and “green tea party”, whom are made up of christians, atheists, and occultists.

K. Like I care?

In 1992, Ross Perot won nearly 20 million votes and roughly 19% of the total vote share, yet won 0 electoral votes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_presidential_election

Would we have seen more exciting, competitive, and worthwhile presidential campaigns by major figures like Bloomberg by now if electoral college votes more closely reflected popular votes? Probably.

Would more people vote 3rd party for President if they had more assurance their votes wouldn’t be a total waste? Also quite likely.

Would all this extra competition outside the (R) and (D) boxes weaken hyperpartisanship and help promote the health of our politics? I think so.

One of the more pernicious aspects of the Electoral College in addition to all the others I’ve described at length elsewhere is that it promotes a two-party duopoly.