Third Party Candidates Influence in Elections

Author: Margaret Deering 

Third party candidates influence the two party system. People tend to not vote for third party candidates because they know that that candidate will not win the election. On the reverse some people vote for the third party candidate in opposition to both parties, making a statement against the two party system.

Here is a diagram that shows different third party presidents and their influence on elections

YEAR	PARTY	CANDIDATE	VOTE%	ELECTORAL VOTE	OUTCOME in Next Election
1832	Anti-Masonic	William Wirt	7.8%	7	Endorsed Whig Candidate
1848	Free Soil	Martin Van Buren	10.1	0	5% of the vote, absorbed by Republican Party
1856	Whig-American	Millard Fillmore	21.5	8	Dissolved
1860	Southern Democrat	John C. Breckinridge	18.1	72	Dissolved
1860	Constitutional Union	John Bell	12.6	39	Dissolved
1892	Populist	James B. Weaver	8.5	22	Absorbed by Democratic Party
1912	Progressive	Teddy Roosevelt	27.5	88	Returned to Republican Party
1912	Socialist	Eugene V. Debbs	6.0	0	Won 3% of the vote
1924	Progressive	Robert M. LaFollette	16.6	13	Returned to Republican Party
1948	States' Rights	Strom Thurmond	2.4	39	Dissolved
1948	Progressive	Henry Wallace	2.4	0	Won 1.4% of the vote
1968	American Independent	George Wallace	13.5	46	Won 1.4% of the vote
1980	Independent	John Anderson	6.6	0	Dissolved
1992	Reform	H. Ross Perot	18.9	0	Won 8.4% of the vote
1996	Reform	H. Ross Perot	8.4	0	Did not run
2000	Reform	Ralph Nader	2.7	0	Ran Next election
2004	Green	Ralph Nader	1.0	0	--

http://www.thisnation.com/question/042.html

             Although sometimes third party candidate can have an effect on the election, in the election of 1912 Theodore Roosevelt received 27.5 % of the popular vote, the highest in election history received by a third party candidate. He won 6 states while the incumbent Republican president Taft only won 2. The rest went to the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. Wilson ended up winning the election especially because of his 82% Electoral College vote. While Roosevelt only earned 16.5 % but still passed Taft who only had 1.5 %.

This website shows the election results:

http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/etats/1912.gif

         This election makes a point that when campaigned correctly a third party can have an influence on the election. Roosevelt did just that, more then one in every four people voted for Roosevelt. That had a large influence on the reelection of Taft. People who might usually vote Republican instead decided to vote for Roosevelt who was running on the progressive platform. In addition people who might have voted for Taft in the past saw all of the confusion in the Republican Party and they decided to switch to vote for Wilson. The election really worked out in Wilson's favor because without a strong Republican Candidate Wilson was the only influential candidate left. This however would not have happened if there were other candidates to choose from. This really identifies the two party system and how it can hinder or help a canidate in an election. 
         Of course following this election Teddy Roosevelt decided to change his platform to the Republican Party where he ended up winning the election. The fact that once Roosevelt changed his party he was elected also says something about our political two party system. It says that the system is so strict it is often hard to break though. When Roosevelt entered the two party system he was elected but before when he was not a part of it he was not elected.

             The reason in my opinion why third parties do not have as much of an influence on elections has to do with funding. There are people that always tend to fund the Republican Party or always tend to fund the Democrat Party. But there is not as much money available for Third Party candidates. Because less money given to them they cannot campaign as much as the other two parties. The media tends to report little to nothing about the third party candidates. Leaving them with less publicity and not giving them influence on the election. The presidential debate for example that takes place before every election ignores the third party candidate only allowing the democratic and republican candidate to dispute.