2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Sanders Campaign Prepares For Run As An Independent [View all]Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)If no candidate has a majority of the electoral votes, then the House, voting by state (one state one vote), chooses the President, but must choose from among the three people with the most electoral votes. On your scenario, the Republicans who control the House would have to choose among Clinton, Sanders, and Trump. Oh, to have the aspirin concession on Capitol Hill that day.
More likely, though, is that a separate Sanders candidacy, even if he carried Vermont and a couple other states, would have the principal effect of drawing off normally Democratic votes in many other states. The result would be that Trump would win a whole bunch of states with only a plurality. He could fall below Romney's percentage of the popular vote and still win quite a few states that Romney lost. Trump would fall well short of a majority of the popular vote but would easily have a majority of the electoral votes.
And that's exactly why Sanders won't do this.