The Effect of Third Party Candidates in Presidential Elections

Despite being the constant underdog and loser in major elections third parties make some significant contribution to the political spectrum in the United States. Third Party Agendas are taken serious by the Democratic and Republican Parties and specific pieces of the Third Party Agendas are sometimes adopted by the two major parties. Third parties give discontented voters other alternatives. The Republican and Democratic Parties have been known to operate in similar styles and third parties give the voter the opportunity to express their discontent. The third parties in the United States are policy advocates and often are more specific about were they stand ideologically. Often the Republican and Democratic Parties try and take a moderate

Third parties offer voters an alternative to the same two parties that run in the presidential election every four years, often with more concrete goals and views, yet there has never been successful third party candidate. For over one and a half centuries, the Republicans and Democrats have held a duopoly over the United States government (Diamond 2015). People have been growing more and more frustrated in their government and the two parties, so why haven’t third-party candidates gained any ground in the political sphere?

Primary elections are elections held previous to a Presidential election to decide upon the presidential candidate from the two main parties. These are held in each state, each of which then goes on to sponsor the winning candidate of their primary at the national convention, where the party’s presidential candidate is announced. This method of choosing a candidate came about due to the McGovem/Fraser Commission of 1968 (where Mayor Daley refused McGovem the chance to run as he was too liberal). It replaced the old system of decisions being made in ‘smoke filled rooms’ where party bosses were all powerful and made the decision.

It’s hard to imagine a period in American political history that hasn’t been dominated by a duopoly of political parties. Even though resistance from the founding fathers on the issue of political parties is well documented, the two-party system we are well accustomed to developed shortly after the emergence of the United States as an independent nation. Whether it was the Federalist/Democratic-Republican system in the late 18th and early 19th centuries or the Democratic/Republican system we know today, two ideologically opposite parties have always maintained dominant control of the American political system. The existence of third parties and independent candidates, therefore, complicates the political system that we have used for

“It is a natural evolution of our mass consciousness to begin to see third parties as a viable option; it is reflected in the corrupt and broken two-party system.” Michelle Augello-Page, an author and writer, uses this quote to speak to the frustration Americans feel about the two-party political system. Since the 1850’s, the Democrats and Republicans have received the majority of the popular vote, while third party candidates struggle election after election (Schechter). The two major party candidates don’t always speak to the issues many Americans want to be addressed. Therefore, Americans must consider voting for third party candidates to ensure democracy works for everyone.

Third parties in the United States do not win, but they do tend to keep elections interesting. Although third parties bring in votes for themselves, most of them have extreme views on issues. These type of views cannot put a party at the top of a nation that mainly consists of moderate individuals. America has one of the most advanced democracies and as a result has developed the two party system. The reason a two party system overpowers a three-party system is because, ideally, the constitution only has two sides to it, the opposing and the supporting. While the United States has a large two party system, third parties have been around for hundreds of years, they play a large part in presidential elections, and within the national government

From the Mexican Cession to the attempt of resolving slavery in territory, Both the North and South could not come to terms on which territories get to have slavery and which ones do not.

Our nation began in 1776 with the first elected president as George Washington. Since then we have had forty-two other leaders take on the role of being the president of the United States of America. Every four years we elect a new president and each president that is elected can run again and serve up to two terms as a total of eight years. The President of the United States is considered one of the world's most powerful people, leading the world's only contemporary superpower. The role includes being the commander-in-chief of the world's most expensive military and leading the nation with the largest economy. The office of the president holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad. The power includes execution of federal law, alongside

     For hundreds of years, the two party system has dominated the American culture, but many people are confused by what a two party system actually means. Although a two party system is defined as two parties that are bigger than the rest, third parties have greatly impacted elections for over a hundred years. Minor parties still continuously voice their opinions in issues, causing other candidates of either major party to adopt their philosophies. Furthermore, some parties, such as the Reform have actually been successful in obtaining a position, such as governor. Finally, third party candidates have actually taken away votes from a number of nominees over the years.

The amount of Latinos in this country is rapidly growing; the Latino community is 16.3 percent of the population. In the article written by Kate Linthicum, it is estimated that 40 million Latinos will be eligible to vote by 2030 and in 2014, 25 million Latinos were eligible to vote. In the previous 2012 Presidential elections, the massive amount of Latinos had a significant importance in the election. Both the Democratic and Republican political party aimed to receive the support of the Latino voters. This upcoming election both political parties will have to find strategies to win over the Latino vote. Neither the Democratic nor the Republican political party is a perfect fit for the Latinos in the United States. They both have some qualities

Ever since the election season of 1972, presidential primaries have become “the dominant means of selecting the two major party candidates.”i[i] The primary system is one in which the eligible voters of each state do one of the following: 1) Vote for a presidential candidate to run for their party in the general election. 2) Vote for a delegate pledged to vote for a certain candidate at the party’s national convention. As intended, this process would bring the candidate selection processes out into the open and “let the people vote for the candidate of their choice.”ii[ii] On the surface, this may look very democratic (and admittedly, in some instances it was/is), but upon closer

The Third Party System was a Democratic Party that was not able to maintain the alliance that was formed with the southern and western farmers once slavery became the main problem in America. The Third Party was created after a sectional dispute that was about slavery that led to the collapse of the Second Party System back in the 1850s. The Third Party divided into two with the Democrats in the South being proslavery and the Democrats in the North being antislavery. In 1860 the party selected two different presidents that represented each of the two divisions and they also found themselves having disagreements on slavery. After the death of Webster and Clay, there was a lack of leadership that was having a big impact. The Republicans, on the

    Gary Earl Johnson is the Libertarian Party nominee to be president. Gary was born on January 1, 1953 in Minot, North Dakota. Gary is the son of Lorraine B. and Earl W. Johnson. In 1971 Johnson graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gary attended the University of New Mexico from 1971 to 1975 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science. Gary met his future wife, Denise “Dee” Simms while he was in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He made his own business in 1976 called Big J Enterprises that dealt with door-to-door handyman jobs. His business was weak until he made a large contract from Intel’s expansion in Rio Rancho. Gary eventually grew the business

America is vastly known as a country boundlessly pursuing equality in all facets of life. In this seemingly endless quest for equal opportunity, there has been one lurking negation; our election system. The addition to equal representation in public funding and on the ballot will create variability and allow Americans to entrust their vote in a political format that more closely aligns with democratic philosophy. Therefore, a shift away from a bipartisan, a two party, dominated election system would not only be a healthy change for American electoral satisfaction, but for the future of third party politics. Unfortunately affluence and inherent wealth have played a large role in this divide between a true democratic election and our present biased, broken, and benyne system.

The Constitution has nothing to say about political parties. Nowhere does it define political parties or explicitly specify that there should be two dominant parties. Nevertheless, America has had a strong two party system for last 150 years, a degree of party stability and endurance that can be found in no other nation (Landy and Milkis, 451). This system of two dominant parties has both its advantages and its drawbacks, the same as any system will. The two strong parties simplify and stabilize American politics from both the citizens’ and the politicians’ point of view and allow for government to be unified across the separation of powers built into the Constitution