To believe that whoever has the most money in elections wins

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Because it is the general rule these days. There can be exceptions to the rule, as with recalls,

but for the most part it's true. Whoever has the biggest financial war-chest tends to win.

Also, strategic voting is at play. People vote for the person they can tolerate best and who they think can win, even if it's not their first choice, and that person tends to be from one or the other of the two big parties. And it isn't necessarily about who is most palatable to the masses, it again comes back to the issue of money and who can make themselves most visible and therefore better known. That doesn't mean that the people are sheep, it just means they want a known quantity over an unknown, and the guy or gal who ran the most commercials who they are comfortable with probably defaults to being "the known quantity."