you could do worse than + -ing

Question

Merriam-Webster defines "could do worse" as an idiom:

used to say that a particular choice, action, etc., is not a bad one
You could do worse than to vote for her.

Although I would have gone with simply "vote" without "to" myself, I think it's still okay to add "to" after "could do worse than", as shown in M-W.

That said, I was wondering if using "voting" would be also correct here.

There's a 2011 thread showing this form:

...you could do worse than using a simple JScript application.

Where nobody seems to raise any question about the form "using."

And then here's a 2022 New York Times article adopting the form "adding":

There’s a character in Adam White’s debut novel, “The Midcoast,” who at one point starts to chafe against her small-town circumstances and decides to do something about it. “She went to the library,” White writes, “and started checking out every kind of book — romance novels, spy novels, biographies, memoirs, history books, cookbooks — anything in print.” That’s my kind of character, I thought when I reached that passage, and if it’s your kind of character too then you could do worse than adding “The Midcoast” (think “Ozark” meets “The Great Gatsby” in Maine) to your reading list this week.

Does this mean this -ing form is always natural after "could do worse than"?

Answer 1

Dictionaries include sentences involving different strings after 'than':

• [+ infinitive]: He could do worse than marry Eleanor. [Longman]
• [+ infinitive]: You could do worse than take a leaf out of the health economists' book. [Longman]

• [+ to-infinitive]: The West could do worse than to base its policy towards the Middle East on that aspiration. [Longman]

• [+ to-infinitive]: You could do worse than to vote for her. [Merriam-Webster]

• [+ noun phrase]: If you’re looking for a good career, you could do worse than a job in banking.

[Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary]

I've found no authority licensing the use of an ing-clause after 'could do worse than', but there are reasonable numbers of examples on the internet:

• And later, you could do worse than trying some traditional Dutch food for dinner. [Reverso]

• Politicians could do worse than going to see Sartre's play. [Jonathan Webber, New Statesman]

• ... role in today's complex world, you could do worse than seeing what Stanley McChrystal has to say about the subject . . . [Michael Herrera; MHA Consulting]

• In the wake of all the scandals and controversies, the Catholic Church could do worse than having a scientist as pope. [The Guardian; 2013]

But this is partly subjective; I'd use In the wake of all the scandals and controversies, the Catholic Church could do worse than to have a scientist as pope.

I'd say that there is a style rather than a grammatical constraint on the optimal choices here.

• If you’re looking for a good career, you could do worse than a job in banking is punchier than an alternative phrasing using say 'getting / ...'.

• He could do worse than marry Eleanor sounds less stuffy than He could do worse than to marry Eleanor.

• The West could do worse than to base its policy towards the Middle East on that aspiration is easier to parse than The West could do worse than base its policy towards the Middle East on that aspiration and the formal tone is not out of place.

• Politicians could do worse than going to see Sartre's play sounds more natural than Politicians could do worse than go to see Sartre's play or Politicians could do worse than to go to see Sartre's play (the 'go to see' structure informs here).

Answer 2

The essence here is that whatever follows "you could do worse than" (in the given context) has to function as a noun phrase/substantive of some sort that will provide a comparator.

The full infinitive; the bare infinitive, and a gerund all fulfil that criterion as do other substantive phrases.

You could do worse than a horse.

You could do worse than buy a horse.

You could do worse than to buy a horse.

You could do worse than buying a horse.

You could do worse than the buying of a horse.

You could do worse than that.

You could do worse than John.

You could do worse than John's.

You could do worse than his.

You could do worse than him.

You could do worse than the one that John brought on Saturday when he was drunk.