The spoiler effect is when a candidate (A) that has little chance of winning is similar to one of the two major frontrunners in a race (B & C). This leads to A taking votes away from either B or C, guaranteeing the victory of the other. This occurs in plurality voting and, only to a slightly lesser extent, in Ranked Choice Voting as well. The spoiler effect often leads to the party with the greatest support losing and a candidate that is not very representative, winning. At this point, most voters understand the spoiler effect and so instead just choose B or C out of the fear of wasting their vote or helping their least favorite win. Approval Voting solves the spoiler effect by allowing voters to choose ALL of their favorites rather than just one, meaning voters aren’t forced to choose a leading candidate to avoid wasting their vote or choosing a spoiler candidate. Approval voting always chooses the consensus candidate who will best represent the overall population and overtime, can help candidates that don't get votes due to the fear of the spoiler effect, get the number of votes they actually represent.