I am aware of the first-past-the-post system, but UK and Canada also have the same but their third parties gain national/federal seats.
In the US, it’s always either Democrats or Republicans. There are third parties on state and county level but never succeed on the national level. How come? Is the electoral college somehow impeding third parties?
The only real reason is lack of ranked choice voting. With the current system a choice is made that is either a win or a loss. This creates a binary system of Republicans or Democrats. Ranked choice allows for an automatic fall back. If you vote for a third-party candidate that you really like under ranked choice, this is not a protest vote. If your candidate doesn’t win you provided a fall back to a larger party candidate.
The vast majority of our nation only consumes media that’s pushed to them. Whether it’s from watching cable, streaming services, pop-up ads, or social media, they’re only getting coverage from the two primary candidates.
The Republican play has been dividing the left for decades, so Democrats are naturally skeptical of a third-party candidate being run as a spoiler. It doesn’t help that Jill Stein has run so many times, and has had some questionable alliances.
I’m personally a person with no party at this point. Democrats don’t represent my views, they were just closer, but there’s no one who does who runs at a national level
Welcome. I’ve felt like that since 2000. I change my registration to match the challenging party for that election so I at least have a say in the primary. US citizens barely vote in the incumbent’s primary, so your vote may actually matter in the challenger’s primary.
Ross Perot had a shot in 1992 but blew it by promoting conspiracy theories (that may have even been true, who knows) about Republican infiltration at (iirc) his daughters wedding.
And the split in the vote let Bill Clinton beat the incumbent Bush.
The only way a third party takes a seat is when they capture the attention.
Locally, that’s easier. Less people to win over, you get to focus on local accomplishments, etc. But national you need to become the national conversation or too many voters wouldn’t know who you are.
Ross Perot never had a real shot. The ruling parties would not have permitted it.
Also, not all races are contested by both Democrats and Republicans. Sometimes the third party is the only one running for a position, sometimes it’s just one third party vs the Republican.
Local races are significantly different.
