The American Two-Party System

Why 3rd Parties Fail

Today in Class

• Take out your Rubric and do the self evaluation

• Take out a sheet of paper and number 1-14

• Read the article on your desk and relate back to the 3rd Parties

Reasons why America has a two party system

• Consensus on Core Issues

• Single member districts

• Winner-take-all system

• Legal barriers to 3rd Parties

• The Force of Historic Tradition

• 3rd Parties excluded from debates

• Raising campaign funds ($) Barriers or Obstacles to 3rd Parties (Why 3rd Parties Fail)

Consensus on Core Political Issues• Americans share a strong commitment to a group of

core values: freedom/liberty, political equality, individualism, equality under the law

• Most Americans fall under the “umbrella” of the conservative and liberal ideology and call themselves moderates (between the two)

Single member districts• Most American elections are held in single-member

districts, in which only one candidate is elected to each office

• Candidate who receives the most votes (Plurality) is the winner (difference between a plurality election and majority election)

• Many other countries, political seats (offices) are awarded to parties that come in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place that still win votes. (not in the United States)

• Example: If one state had 10 legislative seats in Congress, and a party wins 20% of the vote, that party would win 2 Congressional seats in Congress

• In the United States, the winner of the plurality (highest number of votes) wins.

• No political seats awarded for 2nd place in the U.S.• Winner-take-all system of the electoral college. The winner of a

state’s popular vote (plurality) wins all of that state’s electoral votes for President (Example: 1992 Presidential election…Ross Perot)

Winner-take-all system

Clinton: 44,857,747 370

Bush: 39,798,913 168

Perot: 19,722,042 0

Legal barriers to 3rd Parties• The names of Democratic and Republican

candidates are automatically place on state ballots in most states

• In contrast, minor party candidates must persuade registered voters to sign petitions in order to have their names placed on the ballot

The Force of Historic Tradition• America has had a two-party system since 1800• Our two-party system has generated self-

perpetuating laws and traditions• Today, most educated Americans have learned the

political ideology and goals of the two major parties and have grown comfortable with them

3rd Party Candidates are excluded from Presidential Debates

• Many Presidential debates are organized and held by private organizations and groups (such as the league of women voters)

• These private groups can invite and exclude whoever they choose (many minor party candidates get left out)

2008

Raising Money• Both the Republican and Democratic parties do an

excellent job of raising money for their candidates• The two major parties have a detailed network and

large organization to raise money• Most people only donate money to the two major

parties (safe bet)• Minor parties (3rd parties) have a difficult time raising

money for their campaign

Presidential Campaign Spending in 2008

Candidate (Party)

Amount raised Amount spent VotesAverage spent per vote

Barack Obama (D)

$778,642,962 $760,370,195 69,498,215 $10.94

John McCain (R)

$383,913,834 $358,008,447 59,948,240 $5.97

Ralph Nader (I) $4,496,180 $4,187,628 738,720 $5.67

Bob Barr (L) $1,383,681 $1,345,202 523,713 $2.57

Chuck Baldwin (C)

$261,673 $234,309 199,437 $1.17

Cynthia McKinney (G)

$240,130 $238,968 161,680 $1.48

Excludes spending by independent expenditure concerns.Source: Federal Election Commission[1]

Questions?