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THIRD PARTIES
Third parties in the United States are political parties other than the two
major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, that participate
in national and state elections. Historically, the U.S. has a two-party system.
Following Duverger's law, the Electoral College with its "winner take all" award
of electors in presidential elections has, 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%.[1]
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