A two-party system defines United States politics. While third parties do exist in direct opposition to the Republican and Democratic parties’ general platform, they are mostly relevant during presidential elections. However, not even then are they remotely viable options because of the two major parties’ duopoly and the historical precedent of voting. The two-party system presents a significant barrier to a diverse ideological representation in government and a meaningful choice for voters.
Due to the dominance of the two-party system, voting for ideological representation becomes constrained, compelling voters to prioritize party control over issues. Tackling these challenges requires electoral reform that ensures the United States not only reflects the diverse views of its citizens, but also cultivates a more transparent and responsive political landscape that addresses issues based on ideology.
Consider Germany as an example of a multi-party system that significantly differs from our two-party system. The diversity of thought that exists on the left–right political spectrum is much more represented than in the United States, where people can only choose between two vastly conflicting parties. In the 2021 federal election, there were six notable parties or coalitions that garnered support and won multiple seats in the Bundestag, the German federal parliament. Though the share of the vote ranged from 25.7 percent for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) to 4.9 percent for The Left, according to Politico, each party held a considerable portion of influence.
Speaking of part allegiances, a study from Yale found that people tend to prioritize their political party’s stance on a particular issue over both facts and their personal set of beliefs, despite them usually relying on facts and their ideology. The electorate conforms to the position of the party, as opposed to the party conforming to the electorate. Yet this issue could be resolved with more third-party candidates representing the facets of the seemingly divided Republican and Democratic parties.
With that being said, third-party candidates never pose a significant threat to candidates of the major parties, and exist more so to send a message to the major parties and to take votes away from the top candidates. In the 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the third party vote amounted 5.73 percent, according to the Federal Election Committee (FEC). Though Clinton was able to win the popular vote, Trump won the electoral college, which some have argued was caused by the 7,830,934 votes cast for third-party candidates; most notably Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party (3.28 percent) and Jill Stein of the Green Party (1.07 percent).
The 2020 presidential election told another story, with a greater dominance of the two-party system. That edition of the FEC’s report says that President Joe Biden and former President Trump received 98.16 percent of the total votes, with the only notable third-party presence being Jo Jorgenson of the Libertarian Party (1.18 percent). These numbers are much more consistent with results of previous elections.
This coming election will be a rematch of Biden and Trump, and following the Republican and Democratic National Conventions when the parties officially nominate their candidate for president this July and August, respectively, the final push to November will be established.
Just like in 2016, two incredibly unpopular candidates are facing off. According to a poll from Emerson College, Trump’s lead over Biden increased by two points when third-party candidates Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein were added to the ballot. Five percent would support Kennedy Jr. with one percent to Stein and West, respectively. Obviously these projections show that these candidates have no chance of winning the election, but rather suggest who they might take votes away from. As suggested by Sara Dorn from Forbes, Recent polling suggests that RFK Jr. may pose a greater threat to Biden than Trump.
These numbers are drastically different from the results of a Quinnipiac University survey that were released last November, showing RFK Jr. receiving 22 percent of the vote in a hypothetical three-way race with Trump and Biden. The issue with polling that needs to be understood, though, is that the numbers never line up come election day, so all we can do is wait and see who people actually decide to vote for.
The two-party system hurts both minor and major parties because it prevents fair and meaningful representation of the populace. It is unfortunate that an individual like Senator Bernie Sanders, who is the longest-serving Independent in congressional history, had to run on a Democratic ticket during his 2016 and 2020 campaigns due to people’s unwillingness to vote outside of the two-party system. Senator Sanders has maintained a close connection with the Democratic Party and caucused for most of his career. Yet his independent platform that represents nation-wide progressive, socialist and left-wing interests has to conform to the two-party system for a serious chance at higher office. This is simply because people are unwilling to vote outside of party lines, as suggested by a different study from Yale.
One current example of the need for a more inclusive system is the fate of supporters of Nikki Haley. Since Haley dropped out of the campaign for the Republican nomination, there has been much internal strife within the party. For Never Trumpers or Republicans who voted for him previously and have had enough, many seem to be conflicted. Where will her supporters go?
Polling from Quinnipiac University found that close to half of the Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who at the time had supported Haley’s campaign would vote for Trump this coming November, while 37 percent shared they would vote for Biden. However, 12 percent expressed an interest in abstaining, supporting another candidate or were still not yet certain. It is evident that people desire another option, and are eager to express themselves when presented with one. But when the actual election rolls around, they believe their alternate candidate, when pitted against the candidates of the dominant parties, will not stand a chance.
Because of the two-party system, ideological representation in voting is limited and voters are forced to vote for a candidate rather than the issues they care about. This limited third-party presence in elections forces voters to prioritize candidates over issues and perpetuates a cycle of limited political diversity. Addressing these issues requires electoral reform to promote greater inclusivity of alternative parties. Only through such reforms can the United States not only be more accurately representative of all Americans, but also a more honest and responsive political system that confronts issues based on ideology and not playing politics.
We need Ranked Choice Voting so people can vote their conscience without fear of being called spoilers or wasting their vote.
Israel has lots of small parties, and look at the result of that. Be careful what you wish for.