The shift away from the middle and becoming more extreme no matter in which direction, is a result of the decline of the middle class. This is true everywhere. Here in Europe as well.

Reagan republicans are clearly on the losing side of this battle within their party and it will only get worse for them if Trump wins the election. They'll be forced out and replaced by people who fall in line.

As for your two points at the end, a run-off is the typical procedure if no candidate can attain the majority of votes, and a run-off is held within weeks of the first round; I don't see the problem here, because this is common practice in many European countries. The concessions that would be forced by indies would be less severe than what dems force on repubs and vice versa.

I get the impression that the main problem of many registered republicans is that they feel obliged to vote republican for all of their life. So now the Reagan republicans feel kinda lost in this MAGA era.

You said the Left is doing worse thing for democracy than Trump on his best day. I'm figuring his "best day" for this was probably Jan 6th where he implored his VP to not count the electors as required, got a crowd together to march on the capital, when the riot was ongoing his subordinates called congressmembers saying "y'know maybe things are too crazy and we shouldn't certify the results". A sitting president did more than any in our history to try to fuck over the function of our democracy to such a degree that a sizeable portion of our electorate no longer believes in the legitimacy of elections (a cornerstone of any democracy). The idea that this is overshadowed by how the media and higher education are mostly left leaning is baffling to me. Is it based solely on the idea that Trump didn't succeed in any of these attempts so he gets a pass?

Lastly, if the process worked as it should have you wouldn't have most of the republicans no longer believing in elections they lose. The sorest of losers has screwed over our voting system for possibly decades and you're mad that professors are progressive. 

2020 didn't quite get to the levels of fuckery of 1876, but it was bad.

2028 on the other hand... might be the worst since the Civil War depending on how things turn out.

Based on my research, I found that the US cannot have a runoff election, from Reddit:

I always enjoy when you post an opinion as though it is a fact.  For the record I tend to agree with this particular opinion, but it is still an opinion.  People are entitled to think debt forgiveness, etc are extreme.

And honestly I think the overall argument is weak.  Being less extreme doesn't make one not extreme.  

Both parties are extreme and neither are focused on the middle class, which is the point.

Broad brush but liberals care about the poor and conservatives care about the rich.  Anyone who thinks either party is middle class focused, in my opinion, is wrong.  

And you are right, there is no incentive for either party to change.  Which is why, in an ideal world, a third party emerges and we can vote all those morons out and force a change.  

When it concerns the American election procedure, I think it's necessary to reiterate that a third party has no realistic chance under the current rules of "winner takes all." While what you say is correct about the current rules, it's also true that the rules would need to be changed. But once you change from an electoral college vote to the popular vote, you might as well adopt the run-off rules if no candidate attains a majority of the votes in the first round. Obviously, it's extremely hypothetical to talk about viable third parties, because neither the democrats nor republicans who would have to write such a change into law have no interest whatsoever in doing this.

As for the end of Trump's reign, it's unfortunately not so simple. Trump's first tenure was one hell of a mess as he and his yes-man went into the presidency very unprepared. But this time around there is a plan and there's already the advantage of a supreme court stacked in favor of MAGA. The plan includes getting rid of RRs in federal institutions to replace them with MRs. This means there's a high chance that RRs will be done for good by 2029.

And do tell why you voted Al Gore.

 Umm……because it is a fact? Debt forgiveness is not anywhere close to banning abortion or trying to overturn an election/incite an insurrection. If student debt forgiveness is your shining example of left wing extremism then you’re kind of proving my point.

My argument isn’t that one is less extreme, it’s that one has become extreme while the other has shifted from left of center to center left.

Go back to our conversation from a week or two ago, the one where I listed a few dozen things from various bills that benefit middle class Americans. Jobs created by the IIJA, CHIPS & IRA are primarily in blue collar fields like construction & manufacturing. Much of the stimulus/tax credits in the ARP/IRA were capped to families making up to a certain amount. Expansions to ACA subsidies, Medicare prescription caps, VA cancer treatment and mental health services in schools benefit the middle class, the elderly, veterans & children. Climate change mitigation benefits everyone regardless of income. On top of that, there are things they tried but couldn’t pass like increased minimum wage, making it easier to join a union, subsidized child & elder care, universal pre-K, tuition free community college, paid family & medical leave, etc. that undoubtedly benefit the middle class.

No, the lack of incentives to change only applies to Republicans, they have won the presidency in 3 of the last 8 elections while only winning the popular vote once. On the flip side Democrats have won the presidency only 5 times while winning the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 elections. Republicans can win without a majority while Democrats can lose despite having a majority. Then factor in the filibuster which is used to block legislation that the majority party wants to pass, this hurts democrats because they actually want to pass meaningful legislation while republicans can get their tax cuts using the filibuster proof Reconciliation process and cut back regulations & rights by appointing conservative judges.

If you’re going to claim that the left is almost as extreme as the right and doesn’t support the middle class then you need to give some actual examples or data to back it up.

It isn't a fact, lol.  Wow.  I'm always amazed at what people think is a fact versus what is an opinion.  Extreme is going to viewed based on personal standards, which varies from person to person.  A fact is something like Na being 22.9 Daltons.  It is measurable.  Measuring "extreme" is nothing more than a personal opinion.    

Also, since you can't read very well, I didn't say I thought the left was as extreme.  But clearly many do, because their belief system is different than mine.  You can't claim, at least shouldn't, opinions as facts.  

Edit

Electoral college is a can of worms.  Just because some haven't won the majority doesn't mean they couldn't.  If we change the system they way people campaign will change.  Results wouldn't be a linear extrapolation.

What people don't seem to grasp about the US political system is that it's a two-party system based on people lumped together in largely arbitrary geographical blocs whose citizens often have very little in common with one another, and the winner in each of these arbitrary blocs of geography gets all the power. There's no shadow government (in the sense that this term is understood in countries with parliamentary governments) and no shadow president (also in the same sense). 

Take Oklahoma. It's one of the most heavily Republican states in the country. Even so, 30-35 percent of the state votes Democratic and supports Biden. If representation in Congress were truly proportional, Oklahoma would have 3-4 Republican representatives in Congress and 1-2 Democratic representatives. Instead, it has 5 Republicans and 0 Democrats in Congress. The state legislature is similarly lopsided, comprised of 80 percent Republicans. The other 20 percent are from districts the Republicans couldn't quite gerrymander into Republican district. Democrats in Oklahoma are effectively disenfranchised and are basically hostages to the whims of the OKGOP. The OKGOP has a more iron grip on Oklahoma than Fidesz does in Hungary. Thanks to that fact, Ryan Walters has now issued a mandate that the Bible be kept in every classroom in Oklahoma and taught as history in every grade. Any teacher who refuses to comply will have their teaching licenses revoked by the state.

Even if a third party could somehow become viable, in all but the 2-3 states which have runoff elections, it wouldn't matter. Let's say a state has 11 Congressional districts. If the Republican House candidates get 33 percent + 1 person of the vote in each district, the Democrats get 33 percent of the vote, and the Libertarians, Greens, whatever, get 33 percent of the vote, that state will have 11 Republican congressmen, 0 Democratic congressmen, and 0 third party congressmen, despite the fact that 66 percent of the population voted against the Republican. Yes, I'm aware that a result that close would be recounted to the moon and back, but the result would be the same.