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Americans Want Third Major Political Party

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the United States believe there should be a viable alternative to Republicans and Democrats, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates for the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 53 per cent of respondents believe there should be a third major political party in the country, up three points since June 2004.

In the November 2004 congressional ballot, the Republican Party elected 232 lawmakers to the House of Representatives, while the Democratic Party secured 202 seats. The Republicans also have a majority in the Senate, with 55 members in the 100-seat upper house.

In the 2004 presidential election, Ralph Nader—running as a Reform Party candidate—received 0.34 per cent of all cast ballots. Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party was fourth in the race with 0.32 per cent, followed by Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party with 0.11 per cent, and David Cobb of the Green Party with 0.09 per cent.

American voters will renew the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate on Nov. 7.

Polling Data

Some people say we should have a third major political party in this country in addition to the Democrats and Republicans. Do you agree or disagree?



Apr. 2006 Jun. 2004

Agree
53% 50%

Disagree
40% 43%

Not sure
7% 7%

I favour Hugo Chavez and his socialist revolution.

If we could only figure out which third party they're talking about...

The Gays.

I think the people that got polled thought they were talking about threesomes

They'd have good drugs and music.

The Green Party?

GRIND THE VOTE

On a more serious note, I think we need about five legitimate parties in the United States that pull in at least 10% of the national vote every election. I don't believe a centrist party could come into existence as the Democratic and Republicans voluntarily kept to the far points of the political spectrum.

Most Americans prefer the third input.

Well, otherwise, how are Catholic* girls supposed to be virgins on their wedding nite?






* That said, in this age, the era of "true love waits", the Protestants have seized the bronze sodom and run with "technical viriginity" for as far as it will take them. Just so billz and billyg won't jump the gun, I recall hearing of lapsed Protestant youth abstinence as many as five years before the release of the Clinton testimony in the Lewinski investigation. So, you can't blame ol' Bill for turning the good, God-fearing, Republican Christian youth to the dark-side of pre-marital sexing.

You think the Democratic and Republican parties are not centrist???

I love how everyone believes there should be at least a third major political party, but no one wants to stand up and say what that party should be.

What would have been a more interesting poll is:

What party should assert itself as the third major party?

It's also funny that if everyone believes there should be a party other than the Dems and Reps, those two parties still garner north of 90% of the popular vote come Presidential election time and represent near 100% of the Congress.

If people really believe they want a third party, why ain't they votin' that way?

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views05/0516-25.htm

i know it's commondreams, but it makes sense in a certain way. support socialists in south america! vive la revolution, la resistance, et tout ça.

i think its mostly the perception that they can't possibly win. and that because of the overwhelming dominance of the two parties, voting for a third party candidate may mean somebody gets in that you view as the worse of two evils (i.e. progressive nader voters handing the country to george w. bush). the system is not at all geared towards viable third party candidates.

I think the majority of people who are a member of the two major parties are centrists, but I do not believe that the parties themselves and the issues they are currently pushing accurately represent most centrists. You are discounting the 50-60% of eligible voters who choose not to vote because they have been turned off by the two party system. I think the additional third party has to be more like the Reform party when Perot was the main candidate, but with a person who is a relative unknown heading it up.

It would clearly have to be the Crazies...only common thread to all the existing third parties and Perot backers.

Right now I see one business party with two sides (Democratic/Republican). The former favors the upper middle class on up (with symbolic nods to the middle class and poor) while the latter simply favors the rich (with symbolic nods to evangelicals). The political spectrum in the US is so narrow that it's hard to figure out the differences between candidates even on the simplest issues.

Every election we're given a choice between a limousine liberal and a member of the Jesus Party.



Agreed.

No they don't.

As my buddy says: There is a member of congress that believes exactly as you believe, for every person in the country. Pro-Choice, Anti-Union, Pro-Death Penalty, Pro Gun Control, and every other side of every other issue, too.

The problem is fucking dogma, and the fact that people cannot be bothered to do any kind of research or thinking.

True. I figure if there's someone who holds virtually the same position as me on everything (Kucinich), there's got to be a member of congress for everyone.

Most americans are fucking stupid and deserve what they get.

how long has this been going on?

That Cuban entry was incredible.