“Democrats and Republicans dominate US Politics to the exclusion of all others” Discuss.

The two major parties also receive considerable more funding than third parties as firstly not only do the Democrats and Republicans receive subsidies from the tax payer but 3rd parties must achieve 5% of the vote to begin receiving match funding, and 25% before they receive full funding.  Obviously for a 3rd party this is incredibly difficult and means they will have to use their own money.  Furthermore the two main parties also receive a significantly larger amount of media coverage and is shown by the fact Nader in 2000 received more coverage in the UK than in the US.  This mainly is because if you did not get 15% of the votes in the previous election then you cannot participate in Presidential candidate TV debates.  This is very difficult to achieve for a 3rd party candidate because of the Electoral College system.

The 3rd parties struggle too because the two major parties are so flexible and all embracing in their ideologies.  Both of the two principal parties have allowed themselves to evolve with the times as Democrats were originally against the abolition of slavery but adopted the Civil Right Movement as their focus during the 1960’s.  This shows that they are willing to change in response to a changing society and realised how necessary it is for electoral success.  This combined with the broad ideologies of the two parties, although maintaining their particular principles prevents the third parties from picking up as many votes because they are often left only the ideological fringes of the political spectrum meaning they can only win few votes as they have narrower issues and ideas.  Sometimes too the third parties are overlooked as people consider them as not having a realistic chance of winning.  For example such like Nader who believed in issues regarding public interest.  Voters may well not vote for him because he has a low chance of winning and instead may vote Democrat as they have a good chance of success and will stop the Republicans from getting in, as they are unlikely to do as much to help public interest.  It is this type of thinking that seriously disadvantages third parties and is a tremendous benefit to the two main parties.

However, although the third parties without doubt are disadvantaged their overall effect on elections should not be underestimated.  Some critics have even gone so far to blame Pat Buchanan and Ralf Nader for costing the Republicans and Democrats election victories.  It is claimed that by deciding to run against them they taken votes off the mainstream candidates and in turn, lost them the election.  This was especially the case with Ralf Nader as he was said to have lost Al Gore the election by taking votes in vital states thus showing he picked up a fair size of the electorate.  Ross Perot and George Wallace’s “Wallace Democrats” have too enjoyed electoral success even though not claiming Presidential victory.  This shows that the so-called “dominancy” of the two major parties is not as great if third parties can allegedly “tip” elections in favour of another candidate.

Even though the third parties do have a role to play it looks in America there will be predominately a two Party system, the Republicans and the Democrats.    This is confirmed by the belief of many commentators that suggest the parties are in renewal as there has been a slight increase in party identification across the US.  On the other hand though there are arguments put forward that they are in fact in decline with the increase of split ticket voting in recent elections and the general decline of party identification over the last 50 or so years.  Interest groups have largely assumed the role that the parties traditionally played in “getting the vote out”.  This can be seen by the Christian Coalition, who “encourage” voters though telephone calls, direct mail and the production of voter guides.  If the arguments that suggest the parties are in decline are correct then this is good for the third party candidates as there will be a greater chance for them to make an impact in forth coming elections.  This then could possibly lead to a 3rd party emerging particularly after the success of Nader and Ross Perot in recent years.

At the moment the Democrats and Republicans dominate US Politics as every President since 1856 has been elected from one of these two parties illustrating how difficult it will be for third parties to win a Presidential election.  However though there impact should not go unnoticed, as in recent years Buchanan and Nader’s impact is thought to have been vital.  So much to even blame them for the election losses of the Republicans and the Democrats respectively.  This is a major step forward and if the so-called decline of the parties continues then possibly a third party could emerge.  However though this is in the distant future and at the moment it seems unlikely there will be a third party like the other Western democracies unless there are serious changes to the Electoral System like the unfair Primaries and the handing out of campaign funds to the two major parties otherwise US Politics will continue to be dominated by the Democrat and Republican Parties.