This is quite reductive and ridiculous, people don't measure their difference from a candidate on a single axis and vote for the person with the smallest distance.
> people don't measure their difference from a candidate on a single axis and vote for the person with the smallest distance.
Good news, that's not how it works. You are minimizing the distance in a hyperspace, not a single axis. People draw a singular axis (or two) to simplify and explain the concept. But still, the distance is measured in a hyperspace.
I am generally an RCV fan, but I think you're writing off this critique a bit too quickly.
Even with multiple axes the critique is still correct right? And I think (far from an expert) that there's decent evidence to support hotelling's law and median voter theorem.
No, it is how much they like a candidate on a certain topic and then they consider all topics, which are weighted. But also the distance measurement of voting systems aren't in reality a single axis. So this doesn't really matter anyways because it is already accounted for.
Good news, that's not how it works. You are minimizing the distance in a hyperspace, not a single axis. People draw a singular axis (or two) to simplify and explain the concept. But still, the distance is measured in a hyperspace.