There is no such thing as a viable third party in a two party system. Until our elections require 50 percent to win or have ranked-choice there will only ever be two parties. At best you could hope to replace one of the top two, but you would have to see a complete collapse in their support first. After seeing a significant portion still supporting the current admin, I don’t think complete collapse for either party will ever happen.
You are just wrong, and it’s not even worth the effort it takes to dismiss the fact that your assumptions are all baseless.
The third party lane has been viable since Obama failed as a progressive populist.
If Bernie would have run as independent in 2016 alone, he would have won. And this would have held for 2020 or 2024. But that’s not who Bernie is. But his personality aside, the lane is and has been open.
The fact is that most voters aren’t loyal to a party but actually despise both major parties. 2024 not Biden and Trump were polling at historic lows for any race in the past 80 years. People are looking for a person to vote for, not a party.
This naive response is actually the biggest barrier, and I’m not saying it wouldn’t have been a multi year project. But if it had started in earnest in 2016; if Bernie would have run as independent. The lane was absolutely open.
That all being said, the US is entering into a period of one party rule due to its persistent unwillingness to have entertained third parties.
I made no assumptions. If Bernie ran as an independent in 2016 he would have had a split vote with Hillary allowing Trump to win still. Most voters might not be loyal to a party, but enough of them are. Any third party will have to split their vote with one of the other two which will give the win to the party that doesn’t split. Its not naive, its how things work. I wish we could have a third party, which is why I support ranked-choice. We currently don’t have ranked-choice, so any third party will just hand the win to the worst party. I’m all for potential third parties to run in the primaries, but then they can’t be independents. Definitely no third parties in the general though.
There is no such thing as a viable third party in a two party system. Until our elections require 50 percent to win or have ranked-choice there will only ever be two parties. At best you could hope to replace one of the top two, but you would have to see a complete collapse in their support first. After seeing a significant portion still supporting the current admin, I don’t think complete collapse for either party will ever happen.
You are just wrong, and it’s not even worth the effort it takes to dismiss the fact that your assumptions are all baseless.
The third party lane has been viable since Obama failed as a progressive populist.
If Bernie would have run as independent in 2016 alone, he would have won. And this would have held for 2020 or 2024. But that’s not who Bernie is. But his personality aside, the lane is and has been open.
The fact is that most voters aren’t loyal to a party but actually despise both major parties. 2024 not Biden and Trump were polling at historic lows for any race in the past 80 years. People are looking for a person to vote for, not a party.
This naive response is actually the biggest barrier, and I’m not saying it wouldn’t have been a multi year project. But if it had started in earnest in 2016; if Bernie would have run as independent. The lane was absolutely open.
That all being said, the US is entering into a period of one party rule due to its persistent unwillingness to have entertained third parties.
I made no assumptions. If Bernie ran as an independent in 2016 he would have had a split vote with Hillary allowing Trump to win still. Most voters might not be loyal to a party, but enough of them are. Any third party will have to split their vote with one of the other two which will give the win to the party that doesn’t split. Its not naive, its how things work. I wish we could have a third party, which is why I support ranked-choice. We currently don’t have ranked-choice, so any third party will just hand the win to the worst party. I’m all for potential third parties to run in the primaries, but then they can’t be independents. Definitely no third parties in the general though.
When was the last time a 3rd party candidate won more than 5% of the vote?