88
votes
Is there objective proof that Jo Jorgensen stopped Trump winning, like a right-wing Ralph Nader?
TL;DR: It's a virtual impossibility, but mathematically possible. If Trump won a large majority of Libertarian votes, he could have won key states. Four states are in play. One combination gives him a ...
- 7,141
74
votes
Why isn't there a serious attempt at creating a third mass-appeal party in the US?
Because the two main parties absorb emergent third parties
Any time any third party starts to get serious traction in the United States, it eventually will find one of the major parties shifting its ...
- 15.6k
64
votes
Accepted
Is there any rule or law stopping Bernie Sanders from running as a third party candidate?
Unfortunately, the answer is probably yes and no.
Every state & territory has different rules & procedures governing who can appear on a ballot and how they qualify to be there.
Some, if not ...
- 12.4k
58
votes
Is it still theoretically possible for Kanye West to become the US president in 2021?
Realistically no. The mechanism exists, but given who would ultimately pick the president (described below), even the theoretical possibility is far-fetched for Kanye.
Theoretically as in is there a ...
- 2,657
31
votes
Accepted
Why do 3rd party voters in the US seem to lean right politically?
Why do 3rd party voters seem to lean right politically?
Given the growing gap between the two major parties, there's room in the middle for a third party. Third parties on the left tend to be even ...
- 12.5k
29
votes
Why do 3rd party voters in the US seem to lean right politically?
Another explanation is that the Green Party offers nothing new to the conversation that the Democrat Party doesn't already cover (Green Party politics are well adopted in the Democrat party, so people ...
- 15.6k
21
votes
Accepted
Who would be elected Prime Minister if the winning party was "Independent"?
The Queen would select anyone who could "command the respect of the house", to be Prime Minister. Anyone who could prove to Her Majesty that they could form a government would be selected as Prime ...
- 8,437
17
votes
Is there any rule or law stopping Bernie Sanders from running as a third party candidate?
In addition to the "sore loser" laws mentioned in the other answer, candidate filing deadlines rarely allow a candidate to do this.
For example, the deadline for filing to run as an independent in ...
- 1,225
15
votes
Why do 3rd party voters in the US seem to lean right politically?
Is that always true? Ralph Nader's 2000 run is widely believed to have siphoned enough votes from Dems to let Bush win.
Sure, if you count from 2004 on, you have the effect you state.
And, in a way (...
14
votes
Why do 3rd party voters in the US seem to lean right politically?
Here's a small selection of Libertarian views, and a general look at where their views fall (I offer this as a broad generalization for the sake of argument)
Libertarian View
Leans Right
Leans Left
...
- 43.8k
12
votes
Which states returned the most third party votes in the 2016 presidential election?
State-level result data from here shows that the top five states by percentage of third-party votes in the 2016 presidential election were Utah, Idaho, Vermont, Alaska, and New Mexico, with 27%, 13.25%...
CDJB♦
- 97.1k
11
votes
Why isn't there a serious attempt at creating a third mass-appeal party in the US?
I'll address part of the issue with something of a frame challenge.
It is a common misunderstanding, which you seem to be falling prey to, to think of the Democratic and Republican parties as largely ...
- 16.1k
10
votes
Accepted
What do third party candidates for the US presidency expect to functionally accomplish in terms of voting?
Here are some reasons for third-party candidacies:
Demonstrate that there is a politically viable ideology that neither of the top two parties is close to. For example, "Socialism" during the 1910s, ...
- 6,723
10
votes
Is it still theoretically possible for Kanye West to become the US president in 2021?
Kayne's largest problem is he's not on enough state ballots to reach the necessary 270 electoral votes. 12/50 states means he can't win outright through normal means.
Ignoring the Electoral College ...
- 43.8k
9
votes
Why isn't there a serious attempt at creating a third mass-appeal party in the US?
@Joe's answer gives excellent concrete examples of how a party moves toward 'the center'. For a theoretical explanation, see The Median Voter Theorem and Hotelling's Game.
If a platform or policy ...
- 5,994
9
votes
Why don't political parties support independent candidates to the extreme of their opponent to split the opposition vote?
Updated Answer
It is possible that a vote-siphoning tactic could be an effective one. You're not crazy or misguided here. Your cost estimates are about right, and actually siphoning off 1-2% of ...
- 191
8
votes
Is it still theoretically possible for Kanye West to become the US president in 2021?
Even though you do mention the election and the electoral college, your question asks if Kanye West could become president, and not just if he could be elected. So, within the totally theoretical ...
- 311
7
votes
Why isn't there a serious attempt at creating a third mass-appeal party in the US?
Because independents aren't politically uniform. They don't necessarily have any more in common with each other than they do with members of the major parties. To refer to a voter as 'independent-...
- 327
7
votes
Accepted
Why did Gary Johnson's support erode in late October 2016?
According to previous elections, this is indeed true. Third-party candidates tend to lose support closer to the election dates. (graph below)
Usually, third-party candidates will hold onto their ...
- 46.4k
7
votes
Why are "third parties" viable in many democracies but not the USA?
The main reason for this difference between the United States and Europe is the election system.
In the United States, there is a "winner takes all" system for federal elections. Whoever wins the ...
- 72.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Can a third-party candidate “donate” their votes to another candidate?
No, there is nothing in the Constitution that allows the transfer of votes from one candidate to another. However, this year Maine used Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV). Under RCV, voters for Jo Jorgensen ...
- 31.4k
7
votes
Why isn't there a bigger presence of 3rd parties in the US Senate or House of Representatives?
In many other democracies, where third parties are more common, you tend to get the following sequence:
Elections happen.
If some party has an outright majority, they take control, nice and easy.
But ...
- 16.1k
6
votes
What exactly was the reason anti-Masonic party disliked Masons?
The Anti-Masonic political movement (based upon my knowledge of its history while working with primary sources related to the history of my undergraduate college was founded by people who belonged to ...
- 66.9k
6
votes
Why don't political parties support independent candidates to the extreme of their opponent to split the opposition vote?
What makes you think that they aren't doing this?
The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in 2016 won a bit over 94% of the popular vote between them. The difference between them was ...
- 88.8k
6
votes
Accepted
Have any third parties used Maine or Arizona's public financing in their campaigns?
Maine's 2018 Candidate list (Excel) shows that of 211 candidates choosing to use the public financing option, 140 were Democrats, 54 Republicans, 16 Unenrolled, and 1 Green.
There are additional ...
- 1,241
5
votes
Why isn't there a serious attempt at creating a third mass-appeal party in the US?
In addition to the answers given here, there is a simple cost/benefit analysis to consider:
If you possess the resources required to start a viable large third party, and/or to take one of the ...
- 963
5
votes
What do third party candidates for the US presidency expect to functionally accomplish in terms of voting?
Besides nudging the public's window of discourse a bit, (i.e. item #1 in Jasper's answer), there's always the rare hope of:
A cascade effect. Just as Internet Memes go from one person's late night ...
- 12.7k
5
votes
Why don't third parties in the United States advocate for Approval/Range Voting?
One problem is that people don't use it correctly. We have someone on this site who works on voting machines. The results that company was seeing were that people were only approving one candidate ...
- 88.8k
5
votes
Accepted
In Massachusetts, can I vote third party if I register as a Republican?
In Massachusetts (as in many other states) there are two stages to the election, a primary election, in which the parties choose their candidates, and a general election, in which the candidates from ...
- 108k
5
votes
Why did Gary Johnson's support erode in late October 2016?
A separate reason (somewhat alluded to indirectly in other answers) that is sometimes discussed by political wonks is signalling.
A voter initially, early in the electoral season, signals to the ...
- 90.8k
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