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One aspect of Ralph Nader's campaign that often gets glossed over by superficial observers is the fact that Nader is campaigning against both Democrats AND Republicans. As a non-Democrat, Nader has special credibility to criticize Republicans. This is part of the reason why Nader redirects votes from Republicans as well as Democrats. He also may suppress turnout for both Democrats and Republicans, since he is offering arguments to vote against them, or he may increase voter turnout in general since he engages people who would otherwise not pay attention to politics. The net effect of his campaign on the election result is, in truth, incredibly difficult to determine. Simple formulations like "spoiler" are inadequate to address this complexity and fail to recognize that, as Nader puts it, either all of the candidates are spoilers or none of them are (because they all have the right to run for office).
Nader has more credibility criticizing Republicans than Democrats do from the perspective of Republicans. This is because each dominant party, to a significant extent, conditions its members to perceive those of the other side as wrongheaded people intent on implementing an agenda that will make America worse off. Nader claims neither side, he criticizes both. Hence, when he criticizes Republicans, Republicans know that the criticism comes from someone who has criticized their chief rival as well. There is a basis for mutual understanding and respect here: Nader criticizes Democrats, so do Republicans. Hence, Nader and the people he criticizes agree on something important: the Democrats should not be elected. It is easier for a person to take criticism from someone who validates his or her views in this way.
Nader has the potential to suppress the vote for both dominant parties. This is because he gives the voter reasons to oppose both parties. Even when he focuses more on Democrats, in order to draw a distinction between his positions and theirs, there is often implicit criticism of Republicans embedded in his remarks. Much of his criticism of Democrats is for their being too similar to Republicans, too unwilling to oppose Republican ideas.
Nader has the potential to increase the vote for all parties. By injecting a novel, critical, intelligent, and passionate voice into our political discourse Nader can excite people about politics and make them more likely to inform themselves about how to vote and what the candidates stand for.
Nader is not a "spoiler", nor is any other candidate. His right to run for office is the same as the right of Democrats and Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, etc. He cannot "take" votes from Democrats or Republicans but he can redirect them. To "take" a vote from a candidate implies that that candidate owns the vote. This, of course, is absurd. Only the voter owns his or her vote. Votes are not an entitlement program: candidates must earn each one.
