Why is it so difficult for third party candidates to win an election?

Answer 1

• It takes a lot of man power and money to get elected President. Just to get on the ballot in every state requires collecting thousands of signatures in each state in timely fashion and paying fees. It takes careful organization and lots of people working together to wage a successful campaign.
• A third party has to compete with the two established parties and any other third parties. There is a large group of Republicans and Democrats who would never vote for anyone not supported by their party.
• Even if a third party candidate won he as President , hewould have a hard time dealing with Congress unless the party was also able to elect a substantial number of Congressmen and Senators along with the president. To launch all the congressional campaigns requires even more money and organization. The major parties never stop working to sign up members and collect funds for the next campaigns. They maintain a full-time paid staff even between elections. There are no term limits on Congress and many Congressmen and some senators are sure of re-election year after year.

Answer 2

Third party candidates at the national level have a difficult time of getting on the ballot of every state. Abraham Lincoln was a third party candidate in 1864 when the Republicans ran Fremont and the Democrats ran McClelland. That is the only time that a third party candidate has won the Presidency. In addition, third party candidates generally appeal to a subgroup within a major political party. In 1992 A third party candidate probably cost George H. Bush reelection. It took votes from the middle of the road mainly from the Republicans. In 2000 A third party candidate probably cost Al Gore the presidential election. It took liberal's votes from the Democrats. We have just seen that happen in New York. In a Congressional District race, an extreme right wing candidate appealed to a slight majority of the Republicans. Its candidate lost. The Democrat won by a landslide. The third party candidate in that situation took an extreme position. It appealed to a minority. Only a broad based party could win, not a narrow based party. So far in the United States in the last 100 years, all third parties, with the exception of the 1992 election, have been special interest parties and not appealing to the middle. In the 1992 election the third party had a bad candidate or it probably would have won.

Answer 3

In the United States it is almost impossible for any third party to have success. The so-called two party system, Republicans and Democrats are well entrenched.