Third party (United States)

The term third party is used in the United States for a political party other than one of the two major parties, at present, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. It is used as (innumerate) shorthand for all such parties, or sometimes only the largest of them. The term is often used dismissively; also called minor parties. See also Third party (politics).

Historically, in the U.S. since the formation of organized political parties in the 1830s, the country has had a two-party system. Following Duverger's law, the Electoral College with its "winner take all" award of electors in presidential elections plus, for Congress, single-seat plurality voting, have, over time, created the two-party system. Another contributing factor is the division of the government into three separate branches, which differs from the parliamentary system.

Although third parties rarely win national elections, they can have an effect on them. Third parties can draw attention to issues that may be ignored by the majority parties. If the issue finds resonance with the voters, one or more of the major parties may adopt the issue into its own party platform. Also, a third party may be used by the voter to cast a protest vote as a form of referendum on an important issue. Third parties may also help voter turnout bringing more people to the polls. Third party candidates at the top of the ticket can help to draw attention to other party candidates down the ballot, helping them to win local or state office. In 2004 the U.S. electorate consisted of an estimated 43% registered Democrats and 33% registered Republicans, with independents and those belonging to other parties constituting 25%..">cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/neuharth/2004-01-22-neuharth_x.htm|title=Neuhart, P. (22 January, 2004). Why politics is fun from catbirds' seats. "USA Today.|accessdate=2007-07-11]

The 2008 presidential election

Chuck Baldwin is the nominee of the Constitution Party. Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr is the candidate of the Libertarian Party. Former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party candidate. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is running as an independent. Brian Moore is the Socialist Party candidate.

Current U.S. third parties

Largest (voter registration over 100,000)

* Constitution Party - socially conservative, economically conservative.
* Green Party - center-left; the third largest party in the United States.
* Libertarian Party - fiscally conservative, socially liberal.

By ideology

Right-wing and center-right

* America First Party -Socially conservative, economically conservative.
* The American Party
* Independent American Party
* Prohibition Party
* Conservative Party of New York

Centrist

* Independence Party of America
* Modern Whig Party
* Reform Party of the United States of America
* Republican Moderate Party of Alaska

Center-left and Left-wing

* Liberal Party of New York
* Vermont Progressive Party - progressive party that enjoys modest success on the local (mainly in Burlington) and state levels. Active only in Vermont.
* Peace and Freedom Party - active only in California.
* Working Families Party - supports electoral fusion
* Socialist Party USA - a remnant of the old Socialist Party of America

Communist

* Communist Party USA - Marxist-Leninist
* Party for Socialism and Liberation - Marxist-Leninist
* Socialist Workers Party - historically the largest and most active promoter of Trotskyism in U.S.
* Workers World Party - Marxist-Leninist

Libertarian

* Jefferson Republican Party (Pro-life libertarianism).
* Personal Choice Party.
* Alaskan Independence Party.
* Independence Party of Minnesota (moderate-libertarian).
* Populist Party of America.

Barriers to third party success

Winner-take-all vs. proportional representation

In winner-take-all (or plurality-take-all), the candidate with the largest number of votes wins, even if the margin of victory is extremely narrow or the proportion of votes received is not a majority. Unlike in proportional representation, runners-up do not gain representation in a first-past-the-post system. In the United States, systems of proportional representation are uncommon, especially above the local level, and are entirely absent at the national level. In Presidential elections, the majority requirement of the Electoral College, and the Constitutional provision for the House of Representatives to decide the election if no candidate receives a majority, serves as a further disincentive to third party candidacies.

In America, if an interest group is at odds with its traditional party, it has the option of running sympathetic candidates in primaries. If the candidate fails in the primary and believes he has a chance to win in the general election he may form or join a third party. Because of the difficulties third parties face in gaining any representation, third parties tend to exist to promote a specific issue or personality. Often, the intent is to force national public attention on a such an issue. Then one or both of the major parties may rise to commit for or against the matter at hand, or at least weigh in. H. Ross Perot eventually founded a third party, the Reform Party, to support his 1996 campaign. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt made a spirited run for the presidency on the Progressive Party ticket, but he never made any efforts to help Progressive congressional candidates in 1914, and in the 1916 election, he supported the Republicans.

Ballot access laws

Nationally, ballot access laws are the major challenge to third party candidacies. While the Democratic and Republican parties are usually entitled to ballot access in all fifty states in every election, third parties often need to meet extra criteria for ballot access, such as registration fees or, in many states, petition requirements in which a certain number of voters must sign a petition for a third party or independent candidate to gain ballot access. In recent presidential elections, Ross Perot appeared on all 50 state ballots as an independent in 1992 and the candidate of the Reform Party in 1996. (Perot, a multimillionaire, was able to provide significant funds for his campaigns.) Patrick Buchanan appeared on all 50 state ballots in the 2000 election, [Citation
url=http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2000/2000presge.htm
title=2000 PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS
publisher=Federal Election Commission
accessdate=2007-12-20] largely on the basis of Perot's performance as the Reform Party's candidate four years prior. The Libertarian Party has appeared on the ballot in at least 46 states in every election since 1980, except for 1984 when David Bergland gained access in only 36 states. In 1980, 1992, 1996 the party made the ballot in all 50 states and D.C.. The Green Party gained access to 44 state ballots in 2000 but only 27 in 2004. The Constitution Party appeared on 42 state ballots in 2004. [Citation
url=http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2004/2004pres.pdf
format=pdf
title=OFFICIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS FOR UNITED STATES PRESIDENT
date=November 2, 2004
publisher=Federal Election Commission
accessdate=2007-12-20] Ralph Nader, running as an independent in 2004, appeared on 34 state ballots. For more information see ballot access laws.

Debate rules

Presidential debates between the nominees of the two major parties first occurred in 1960, then after three cycles without debates, took place again in 1976 and have happened in every election since. Third party or independent candidates have been included in these debates in only two cycles. Ronald Reagan and John Anderson debated in 1980, but incumbent President Carter refused to appear with Anderson, and Anderson was excluded from the subsequent debate between Reagan and Carter. [Citation
url=http://www.debates.org/pages/his_1980.html
title=1980 Debates
publisher=Commission on Presidential Debates
accessdate=2007-12-20] Independent Ross Perot was included in all three of the debates with Republican George H. W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992, largely at the behest of the Bush campaign. His participation helped Perot climb from 7% before the debates to 19% on Election Day. [Citation
url=http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/1992.html
title=What Happened in 1992?
publisdher=opendebates.org
accessdate=2007-12-20]

Perot was excluded from the 1996 debates despite his strong showing four years prior. [Citation
url=http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/1996.html
title=What Happened in 1996?
publisdher=opendebates.org
accessdate=2007-12-20] In 2000 revised debate access rules made it even harder for third party candidates to gain access by stipulating that, besides being on enough state ballots to win an Electoral College majority, debate participants must clear 15% in pre-debate opinion polls. This rule remained in place for 2004 [Citation
url=http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/2004.html
title=What Happened in 2004?
publisher=opendebates.org
accessdate=2007-12-20] [Citation
url=http://www.debates.org/pages/news_030924.html
title=2004 Candidate Selection Criteria
publisher=Commission on Presidential Debates
date=September 24, 2003
accessdate=2007-12-20] , when as many as 62 million people watched the debates, [Citation
url=http://www.debates.org/pages/his_2004.html
title=2004 Debates
publisher=Commession on Presidential Debates
accessdate=2007-12-20] and is still in effect for 2008. [Citation
url=http://www.opendebates.org/theissue/15percent.html
title=The 15 Percent Barrier
publisher=opendebates.org
accessdate=2007-12-20] [Citation
url=http://www.debates.org/pages/news_111907.html
title=Commission on Presidential Debates Announces Sites, Dates, Formats and Candidate Selection Criteria for 2008 General Election
date=November 19, 2007
publisher=Commission on Presidential Debates
accessdate=2007-12-20] The 15% criterion, had it been in place, would have prevented Anderson and Perot from participating in the debates they appeared in.

Debates in other state and federal elections often exclude Independent and third party candidates, and the Supreme Court has upheld such tactics in several cases.

Current and recent notable third party officeholders

The United States House of Representatives currently holds no third party members. The United States Senate holds two. Joe Lieberman, formerly a Democrat, won reelection to his Senate seat in 2006 on the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party line after being defeated by businessman Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary. Lieberman currently identifies himself as an "Independent Democrat". [Citation
url=http://lieberman.senate.gov/about/
title=Biography, Joe Lieberman
publisher=lieberman.senate.go
accessdate=2007-12-20] Bernie Sanders, a self-described "democratic Socialist" [Citation
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/magazine/21Sanders.t.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1
title=The Socialist Senator
date=January 21, 2007
publisher=U.S. Times Magazine
accessdate=2007-12-20] but official independent, won election to the Senate in 2006 after serving sixteen years as an independent Congressman from Vermont. [Citation
url=http://sanders.senate.gov/about/index2.cfm
title=About Bernie
publisher=sanders.senate.gov
accessdate=2007-12-20] Both Sanders and Lieberman caucus with the Democrats, although Lieberman has endorsed and campaigned with Republican John McCain.

Rick Jore, of the Constitution Party of Montana was elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 2006. [Citation
url=http://leg.mt.gov/css/sessions/60th/leg_info.asp?HouseID=0&SessionID=91&LAWSID=5142
title=Rick Jore
publisher=Montana State Legislature
accessdate=2007-12-20]

Bob Kiss, three term Vermont State Representative from the Vermont Progressive Party, was elected Mayor of Burlington in April 2006. Along with Kiss, six Progressives are serving in the Vermont House of Representatives, one of whom David Zuckerman is chair of the House Agriculture Committee. [Citation
url=http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/comms.cfm?Body=H
publisher=The Vermont Legislature Legislative Directory
title=Standing Committees of the House 2007-2008 Legislative Session
accessdate=2007-12-20]

Gayle McLaughlin, member of the Green Party, is mayor of Richmond, California. With a population of 103,000, Richmond is the largest city in the United States to have a Green Party mayor. [Citation
url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/22/BAGM1MI0TF1.DTL&hw=richmond+mayor&sn=001&sc=1000
title=Mayor concedes race -- city largest in nation with Green leadership
date=November 22, 2006
accessdate=2007-12-20]

Michael Bloomberg, elected as mayor of New York City in 2001 and 2005 as a Republican, left the Republican Party in 2007 and declared himself an independent.

Recent third party governors

Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. He was elected as a member of the Reform Party of Minnesota, which changed its name to the Independence Party of Minnesota after disaffiliating from the Reform Party of the United States in 2000.

Angus King, an independent, served as Governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003. King is the most recent third-party/independent state governor leaving office on January 8, 2003 two days after Ventura left office.

Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. was Governor of Connecticut from 1991 to 1995, as a member of A Connecticut Party.

Walter Joseph Hickel was elected Governor of Alaska on the Alaskan Independence Party ticket, serving from 1990 to 1994.

Notable third-party Presidential candidates

Listed below are all presidential elections in which a third-party or independent candidate won an electoral vote or won at least 1% of the popular vote.

=1832=

The Anti-Masonic Party, seeking the eradication of the Freemasons and other secret societies from the United States, nominated former U.S. Attorney General William Wirt for President. Wirt, a former Mason, received seven U.S. electoral college votes from the state of Vermont and 8% of the national popular vote.

John Floyd received no popular votes but won 11 electoral votes when the state of South Carolina, where the state legislature cast electoral votes, voted to support Floyd. President Andrew Jackson won re-election while Henry Clay finished second.

=1844=

James G. Birney, running as the candidate of the anti-slavery Liberty Party, won 2.3% of the national popular vote. Birney's candidacy may have been decisive in swinging the election to winner James K. Polk. Democrat Polk beat Whig Henry Clay 170-105 in the Electoral College, but in New York, which had 36 electoral votes, Polk edged out Clay by 5,000 votes, 48.90% to 47.85%. Birney won nearly 16,000 votes in New York, a quarter of his national total and good for 3.25% in that state. If Birney had not run, the majority of his votes would have gone to the Whigs rather than the pro-slavery Democrats, but whether or not Clay would have netted five thousand more votes is unknown.

=1848=

The Free Soil Party, another anti-slavery party and a precursor of the Republicans, nominated former President Martin Van Buren as its presidential candidate. Van Buren won 10% of the nationwide popular vote but did not carry a state. Zachary Taylor, the Whig Party candidate, won the election.

=1852=

For the third election in a row, an anti-slavery party made a significant showing, as John P. Hale of the Free Soil Party received 5% of the nationwide popular vote. Democrat Franklin Pierce won the election.

=1856=

1856 began a transitional period in American politics. The Whig Party, which had been one-half of the two-party system since 1832 and had won the presidency in 1840 and 1848, disintegrated, fatally split by dissension over slavery. Southern Whigs and a minority of northern Whigs coalesced around the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic American Party, better known as the "Know Nothing" movement. Their candidate was former President Millard Filmore. Northern, anti-slavery Whigs formed the new Republican Party and nominated explorer John C. Fremont. Which was the "third party", Republican or American, is a matter of perception. In the Northern, free states, Fillmore ran a distant third. However, in the Southern, slave states, the Republicans received almost no support, not even appearing on the ballot in 13 of the 15 slave states and receiving tiny shares of the vote in the border slave states of Delaware and Maryland. Democrat James Buchanan won the election with 45% of the popular vote and 174 electoral votes, Fremont received 33% and 114 electoral votes, while Fillmore won 22% but carried only one state, Maryland, thus winning 8 electoral votes.

=1860=

By 1860 the two-party system had fallen apart. The election featured four candidates, including the breakaway Southern Democratic Party, which nominated Vice President John C. Breckenridge as its candidate, and the Constitutional Union Party, which nominated John Bell. Republican Abraham Lincoln did not appear on the ballot in any of the 11 states that seceded after the election to form the Confederacy. Breckinridge, the southern pro-slavery candidate, carried most of the slave states, but had little support in the North outside of Pennsylvania. Bell and the Constitutional Union party, neutral on the slavery issue, drew most of their support from the southern former Whigs that had voted for Fillmore four years before. Stephen Douglas, the northern Democratic candidate, had the broadest support geographically but lost most of the Democratic votes in the South to Breckinridge.

Lincoln won the election with 39.8% of the overall popular vote but 180 electoral votes due to his votes being concentrated in the northern free states. Douglas finished second in the popular vote with 29.5%, but, with his votes scattered all over the country, carried only Missouri and New Jersey and won 12 electoral votes. Breckinridge, the quasi-"third party" candidate of southern Democrats, got 18.2% but won 72 electoral votes due to most of his votes being concentrated in the South. Bell, a true "third party" candidate, finished last in the popular vote with 12.6% but carried Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee to win 39 electoral votes, due to the Democratic vote in those states being split between Douglas and Breckinridge.

After this election, the two-party system coalesced around the Democratic and Republican parties.

=1880=

James B. Weaver of the Greenback Labor Party won 3.3% of the popular vote.

=1884=

The Greenback Labor Party changed its name to the Greenback Party. Ben Butler, running as the joint candidate of the Greenback Party and the new Anti-Monopoly Party, won 1.3% of the popular vote. Neither the Greenback nor the Anti-Monopoly parties lasted past the 1884 election, but other progressive and populist parties would succeed them.

Also in 1884, the Prohibition Party made its first significant showing, with John Pierce St. John of Kansas winning 1.5% of the popular vote.

=1888=

The Prohibition Party, with nominee Clinton B. Fisk, improved on its showing from four years before, increasing to 2.2% of the popular vote. Alson J. Streeter of the short-lived Union Labor Party won 1.3%.

=1892=

James B. Weaver, the Greenback Labor nominee in 1880, ran as presidential candidate for the Populist Party. The Populist Party won 22 electoral votes and 8.6 percent of the popular vote. Weaver became the first third-party candidate to win a state since John Bell in the transitional election of 1860. The Democratic Party eventually adopted many Populist Party positions after this election, notably the Populist call for the free coinage of silver, making this contest a prominent example of a delayed vote for change.

John Bidwell, running on the Prohibition ticket, won 2.2% of the popular vote.

=1896=

The Populist Party supported Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan after Bryan and the Democrats came out for support of Free Silver. Democrat/Populist Bryan won 47% of the vote and 171 electoral votes, losing to Republican William McKinley.

=1900=

John G. Woolley of the Prohibition Party won 1.5% of the popular vote.

=1904=

Eugene Debs, Socialist Party candidate, won 3% of the popular vote. Debs and the Socialists would be factors in Presidential elections for several more cycles.

Silas C. Swallow of the Prohibition Party received that party's usual 2% of the popular vote.

=1908=

Debs, running again for the Socialists, got 2.8% of the vote. Eugene W. Chafin of the Prohibition party got 1.7%.

=1912=

Republican Theodore Roosevelt ran as the "Bull Moose Party" (Progressive Party) nominee in the 1912 election. Roosevelt won 27.4% of the popular vote and carried six states totaling 88 electoral votes. If the transitional elections of 1856 and 1860, when there was no clear two-party structure, are excluded, Roosevelt's was the most successful third-party candidacy in American history. It was also the only third-party effort to finish higher than third. Republican incumbent William Howard Taft became the first (and to date, only) incumbent President seeking reelection to finish third, taking only 23% of the popular vote and 8 electoral votes. The split in the Republican vote gave Democrat Woodrow Wilson victory with 42% of the popular vote, but 435 electoral votes.

Debs, running in his fourth consecutive Presidential election as the Socialist Party candidate, won 6% of the vote, an all-time high for the Socialists. The elections of 1860 and 1912 are the only two times that four candidates each cleared 5% of the popular vote in a Presidential election.

Eugene Chafin, running again as the Prohibition candidate, got 1.4% of the popular vote.

=1916=

Allan L. Benson, taking over as the Socialist Party candidate from Eugene Debs, received 3.2% of the vote. Prohibition candidate J. Franklin Hanly won 1.2%.

=1920=

Eugene V. Debs went to prison in 1919 for violating the Espionage Act by giving a speech opposing American involvement in World War I. Despite being incarcerated in Federal prison, Debs ran as the Socialist Party candidate again in 1920, his fifth and last campaign. Debs received 3.4% of the vote.

Parley P. Christensen, running as the candidate of the newly formed Farmer-Labor Party, received 265,411 votes for 0.99% [http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1920] of the total vote despite being on the ballot in only 19 states. (The Farmer-Labor Party continues to exist today in the state of Minnesota, where it merged with the Democratic party to form the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.)

=1924=

Erstwhile Republican Robert M. La Follette ran as a Progressive. After the Democrats nominated conservative John W. Davis, many liberal Democrats turned to La Follette. He received 4,831,706 votes for 16.6% of the popular vote and won his home state of Wisconsin receiving 13 electoral votes. With the Democrats split, incumbent President Calvin Coolidge won election by a wide margin.

=1932=

Norman Thomas running as the Socialist Party candidate received 884,885 for 2.2% of the total vote. Following Eugene Debs's death in 1926, Thomas became the Socialist standard-bearer and was the party's Presidential nominee in every election from 1928 to 1948.

=1936=

William Lemke running for the short-lived Union Party received 892,378 votes for 2.0% of the total vote.

=1948=

Democrat Strom Thurmond ran on the segregationist States' Rights ("Dixiecrat") Party ticket in protest of the Civil Rights Act. Former Vice President and Cabinet Member Henry Wallace also sought Democratic votes by running for the Progressive Party ticket, opposing racial discrimination and calling for closer relations with the Soviet Union. Thus the Democratic vote was split three ways between Thurmond on the right, Wallace on the liberal left, and incumbent President Harry S. Truman in the center. Thurmond received 1,175,930 votes (2.4%) and 39 votes in the electoral college from Southern states. Wallace earned 1,157,328 votes for an identical 2.4% of the popular vote, but no votes in the Electoral College due to his support being mostly concentrated in the more populous states of New York and California. Despite both challenges, Democratic incumbent Truman still defeated Thurmond, Wallace, and Republican Thomas Dewey in what was widely regarded at the time as an upset.

=1968=

Former Democratic Governor of Alabama George Wallace ran on the American Independent Party line. Wallace received 9,901,118 votes for 13.5% of the popular vote, receiving 45 electoral votes in the South and many votes in the North. Wallace remains the only third party candidate since 1948 to win a state. Republican Richard Nixon won the election with 43% of the popular vote and 301 electoral votes.

=1972=

John G. Schmitz, the American Independent Party candidate won 1.4% of the vote, or 1.1 million votes.

John Hospers of the newly formed Libertarian Party received only 3,674 popular votes but won an electoral vote when Roger MacBride, an elector pledged to winner Richard Nixon, instead voted for Hospers. Hospers' vice presidential running mate, Toni Nathan, became the first woman ever to receive an Electoral College vote.

=1980=

Congressman John B. Anderson received 5,719,850 votes, for 6.6% of the vote, as an independent candidate for President. Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark won 921,128 votes, or 1.1% of the total. No other Libertarian candidate has ever gotten more than 0.5% in a presidential election.

=1992=

Ross Perot, an independent, won 18.9% of the popular vote (but no electoral votes). His was the second-best popular vote showing ever for a third-party candidate, trailing only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Perot finished second in three states: in Alaska and Utah ahead of election winner Bill Clinton, and in Maine ahead of incumbent President George H. W. Bush.

=1996=

Ross Perot ran for president again, this time as the candidate of the newly formed Reform Party. He won 8% of the popular vote.

=2000=

Green Party candidate Ralph Nader was widely accused of tipping the 2000 election to George W. Bush. In Florida, Bush received 537 more votes than Al Gore. While all third-party candidates received more than 537 votes in Florida (and 175,000 votes were not counted), Nader, who received the most votes of the third-party candidates, had made a point of campaigning in tightly-contested Florida. In contrast, conservative third-party candidate Pat Buchanan had limited most of his campaign efforts to states where Al Gore was projected to win by a wide margin to minimize taking votes from George Bush.

See also

* Third party (politics)
* Political party
* Third party (Canada)
* Green party
* Libertarian party
* Constitution party
* Ballot access
* Electoral College
* Proportional representation
* Voting rights

Resources

* [http://www.ballot-access.org/winger/iba.html The Importance of Ballot Access] , by Richard Winger.

References

External links

* [http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com Independent Political Report] - Frequently updated source for third party news.
* [http://www.thirdpartywatch.com Third Party Watch] - Frequently updated source for third party news.
* [http://freedomkeys.com/3rdpartyessays1.htm FreedomKeys.com] 3rd Party Essays.
* [http://www.RangeVoting.org/TPHist.html Opinionated history of USA third parties] at the [http://www.RangeVoting.org Center for Range Voting] .
* [http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/PartyLink.htm Minor Political Party Links] - List of links to every minor political party in the US. Including the Independence Party, the Birthday Party, and every other political party that has ever even remotely surfaced.
* [http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/politicalsystem/a/thirdparties.htm Why Third Parties?] - An About.com resource on basic info on third parties.