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Third Party Politics
Third party, or minor party, is a term used in the United States' two-party system for political parties other than the Republican and Democratic parties. Third parties are most often encountered in presidential nominations. Third party vote splitting exceeded a president's margin of victory in three elections: 1844, 2000, and 2016. No third-party candidate has won the presidency since the Republican Party became the second major party in 1856. Since then a third-party candidate won states in five elections: 1892, 1912, 1924, 1948, and 1968. 1992 was the last time a third-party candidate won over 5% of the vote and placed second in any state. Competitiveness With few exceptions, the U.S. system has two major parties which have won, on average, 98% of all state and federal seats. There have only been a few rare elections where a minor party was competitive with the major parties, occasionally replacing one of the major parties in the 19th century. The winner take all system f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two-party System
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referred to as the ''majority'' or ''governing party'' while the other is the ''minority'' or ''opposition party''. Around the world, the term has different meanings. For example, in the United States, the Bahamas, Jamaica, United Kingdom and Zimbabwe, the sense of ''two-party system'' describes an arrangement in which all or nearly all elected officials belong to either of the two major parties, and third parties rarely win any seats in the legislature. In such arrangements, two-party systems are thought to result from several factors, like "winner takes all" or "first past the post" election systems.Regis PublishingThe US System: Winner Takes All Accessed August 12, 2013, "...Winner-take-all rules trigger a cycle that leads to and strengthen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
