The US Party System

The Party System

USA has a 2 party system, where 2 major parties regularly win the vast majority of votes in general elections, regularly capture nearly all of the seats in the legislature and alternately control the executive branch of government

  • In last 13 Presidential elections, the democrats and the republicans accounted for more than 80% of the popular vote on each occasion
  • In Congress, only 2 Senators are independent and only 1 seat in the House is independent

Reasons:

Winner takes all system makes life difficult for national 3rd parties - normally 3rd parties have widespread shallow support

The 2 main parties can both be described as umbrella parties

Primaries make the major parties more responsive to the electorate, minimising the need for protest votes which would go to 3rd parties

However:

The USA has a 50 party system as the individual state parties are organisationally autonomous and ideologically varied

Many modern-day Americans are more likely to join a group (TEA party) than a party

Mark Shields: "as of today the country has 2 republican parties, separated by the issue of abortion"

Do 3rd Parties have a limited impact?

No

3rd parties do impact Presidential campaigns as they can take votes away from the main parties (e.g. in Florida in 2016, the 3rd party candidates had 290,000 votes)

In 2000 Ralph Nader got 2.7% of the vote, scuppering Al Gore and making him lose to Bush

3rd party policies affect the main parties - in 1992 Perot had his budget policy stolen and implemented by the Republicans

Yes

Winner-takes-all makes it hard for them to win (Ross Perot got 19% of the vote in 1992 but no Elector College Votes)

State ballot access laws - in some states it's easier than others to get your name on the ballot e.g. in Tennessee you have to get 25 signatures on a petition to get your name on the ballot, but in California you have to get 1% of the electorate)

There is Lack of media coverage for third parties and they are only focused on if they make a mistake e.g. when Gary Johnson said "What's Aleppo?"

Third parties have less money - Hillary Clinton spent $1.4 billion in 2016 whereas Gary Johnson only spent $12 million

Ideology - the main parties are umbrellas encompassing a wide supporter base (this leads to independents like Bernie Sanders running for one of the two main parties)

Extra

Now check out our notes on the Democratic party and the Republican party

Also check out our notes on partisanship and party organisation