Third Parties: They Aint Got a Chance

1
Third Parties They Aint Got a Chance
Ralph Nader 2000, 2004
Ross Perot 1992, 1996
2
Third Party

• Any political party
• organized in at
• least a few states,
• other than the two
• current leading
• parties

Jesse Ventura, Independent Governor of Minnesota,
1999-2003
3
History of American Third Parties

• Third Parties in the U.S. receive great
  attention, but in fact have not assumed the
  importance that all the academic attention on
  them suggests.

4
History of American Third Parties

• No minor third party as ever come close to
  winning the presidency
• Only eight third party candidates have won any
  electoral votes
• Only five, including Theodore Roosevelt in 1912
  and Ross Perot in 1992 have won more than 10 of
  the popular vote

5
Types of Third Parties
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Sectional Parties

• Example Strom Thurmond
• and the Dixiecrat Party ran on a segregationist
  platform in 1948

7
Economic Protest Parties

• Example James Weaver and the Populist Party
  won over 1 million popular votes and 22 electoral
  votes in 1892

8
Ideology Parties

• Examples Socialist, Communist, and
  Libertarian Parties

Libertarian Party 2000 campaign ad
9
Charismatic Personality Parties

• Example Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive
  Bull Moose Party in 1912

10
Specific Issue Parties

• Example Prohibition Party in 1892

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Combination Parties

• Example George Wallace in 1968 (American
  Independent Party)
• Dynamic leader with a Southern base
• Anti-civil rights
• Won 13 popular vote 46 electoral votes

12
Purpose of Third Parties
Ralph Nader and the Green Party in 2000

• The electoral progress of third parties is in
• direct proportion to the failure of the two
  
• major parties to incorporate new ideas.

13
Purpose of Third Parties
Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858

• Though very rare, a third party may replace one
  of the major parties
• 1856, the Republican Party replaces the Whig
  Party

14
Purpose of Third Parties

• Third Parties have influence
• Major parties often take on the ideas of third
  parties
• In 1992, both the Republican and Democratic
  Parties took on Perots reform government ideas
  about reducing the deficit

George Bush (Republican), Ross Perot (Reform),
Bill Clinton (Democrat) during 1992 Presidential
debate
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Purpose of Third Parties

• Once the major parties incorporate their ideas,
  third parties burn out
• Populist Party platform was assimilated into the
  Democratic Party in 1896

William Jennings Bryan, Democratic candidate for
President, 1896
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What do shooting stars and third parties have in
common?
17
George Wallace, American Independent Party,
1968 Election http//www.wku.edu/Library/onlinexh
18
Ross Perot, 1996 http//www.bartcop.com
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Ralph Nader, 2000 Election
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NADER VOTER IN 2000
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Nader the Reform Party 2004
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Ralph Nader Math Problem2004 Presidential
Election