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The United States has only two major parties primarily because of the first-past-the-post electoral system. The U.S. single-member district/plurality electoral system requires a party to get a majority of the votes in a district in order to win, and the winner takes it all. Coming in second (even if only by one vote) does not count, as it would in a proportional representation system. Neither the Constitution nor state laws prohibit minor parties, nor do they mandate only two major parties. One of the criticisms of the American party system is that having only two major parties oversimplifies the electoral system, presenting voters with only two choices instead of a wide range of options. The United States has two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Minor parties do exist, such as the Green Party, which is concerned with the environment, and the Reform Party, which is concerned with reforming government and paying down the national debt. However, only one "third" party in American history (the Republican Party) became strong enough to replace one of the two major parties (the Whig Party).
The reason is the way our electoral system is set up, in a winner take all electoral college. Third parties have garnered success, however their success leads to their demise as the ideas promoted by a third party eventually are swallowed into the platform of the remaining two.
There's no law that requires it, nor any reason other than that is the way it has worked out.
Additionally, there is significant institutional inertia maintaining the status quo of two parties. That is, the barriers that other parties face (in terms of gaining sufficient political support) are huge. What tends to happen is that when a significant political movement comes along in the US, rather than have a new political party created around that movement, one of the two major parties "adopts" (or more accurately, co-opts) that movement and incorporates it into that party.
The recent Tea Party movement is a good example. In many other countries, this movement would have spawned a significant political party of its own right; in the US, the Republican Party simply decided to champion many of the Tea Party causes, and thus absorbed the support for the Tea Party.
The current Winner-Take-All design of most of the US political institutions reinforces having only two major parties. In much of the rest of the world, if a party can consistently pull 20% of the vote in elections, it will generally end up with 10-20% of the power and representation. In the US, such a party ends up with 0%, as it never is able to muster 50% of the vote, and only the largest vote-getter in any election wins any representation.
Viewed from another point: with two major parties, each able to pull about 45% of the total vote, one of the two parties is pretty much guarantied to be able to pull 51% of the vote in any single election. Since there is no power to be gained by coming in second place, any party not able to pull in at least 50% of some election is shut out from power.
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A political party that challenges the two major parties in an election is a?
In a two-party system such as that in the United States, this is referred to as a "third party".
In a federal political system state governments can?
In a federal political system, state governments are given the ability to try new ideas by passing laws that are within its scope of power. The United States is a federal presidential constitutional republic.
What difference between a strong central government and a weak central government led to which political parties being formed?
a strong government has the power to make laws for the whole country and this political system is adopted by the United States,however a weak government has no the power to make laws or even to decide for the whole country this polictical system was adopted by the united states before writing the constitution.
What kind of system is the United States based on?
Democracy?
What countries have two party system?
The United States has a two-party system.
The federal system political systems?
The federal system political system is divided between the national government and regional government. The united states is a federal republic.
What political system was the United States fighting for during World War 2?
Democracy.
What type of government system does US follow?
The United States political system is a Constitutional Federal Democratic Repuplic
The democrats and republicans make up the system in the United States?
Yes, the Democrats and Republicans are the two major political parties in the United States that dominate the political system. They both compete for control of government through elections at local, state, and federal levels.
How do you use two-party system in a sentence?
The United States has a two-party political system. The store would not cash the two-party check.
A political party that challenges the two major parties in an election is a?
In a two-party system such as that in the United States, this is referred to as a "third party".
What are the Head of Armed Forces?
In the United States, the Head of the Armed Forces is called the Commander-in-Chief and this position is held by the President of the United States. The president is a civilian political officeholder. So the United States should be understood as having a military system that is under civilian control.
In a federal political system state governments can?
In a federal political system, state governments are given the ability to try new ideas by passing laws that are within its scope of power. The United States is a federal presidential constitutional republic.
What is one reason the United states has a two-party system?
It doesn't, it only has 2 major political parties.
When was United States Capitol subway system created?
United States Capitol subway system was created in 1909.
In his farewell address George Washington warned against against the dangers of political?
George Washington considered himself an independent, and believed that political parties would ruin the political system of the United States. Clearly, no one listened.
What is the type of political system in the US?
We have a Constitutional Democratic Republic
