It is a maxim, that those to whom everybody allows the second place have an undoubted title to the first.

When everyone agrees on who is second, something is being avoided about who is first. Second place is the position people are comfortable granting, because it costs nothing and implies a first place they can each fill with their own preference. Universal agreement about the runner-up is often the clearest available evidence about the winner. Consensus goes to the safe answer rather than the true one.

Where a group has settled easily on a ranking, look at what the easy agreement is protecting. Ask who would actually be chosen if nobody had to explain the choice.