The Conundrum of Voting Third Party: It’s a Losing Option but Voting Shouldn’t Solely Be Based on Pragmatism; Vote for A Candidate You Most Fully Support

Besides hardcore partisans, politicians, and party volunteers many Americans are dissatisfied with the two major political parties. Polls reflect this, and we hear it from our fellow Americans at social gatherings and family dinners.

Unfavorable/Favorable Poll of Democratic and Republican parties
According to Gallup poll trends both the Democratic and Republican parties have higher unfavorable than favorable polling numbers.

When voters are were asked whether you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party here are Gallup’s findings: September 2024 – 55% unfavorable, 42% favorable; September 2023 – 58% unfavorable, 40% favorable; November 2022 – 56% unfavorable, 39% favorable; September 2021 – 59% unfavorable, 39% favorable.

In the same period posing the same question of the Republican Party here are the findings: September 2024 – 54% unfavorable, 43% favorable; September 2023 – 56% unfavorable, 42% favorable; November 2022 – 52% unfavorable, 42% favorable; September 2021 – 56% unfavorable, 40% favorable.

It’s worth noting that this trend is not relegated to the Joe Biden and Donald Trump era but has been unfavorable over favorable in July 2015 during Hilary Clinton (Democratic nominee) and Trump race, as well.

Favor a Third Party, Voting for the Duopoly out of pragmatism
Gallup polling trends also show high support for a political third party because of dissatisfaction among the two-party system duopolies. But election results do not reflect this desire for a third party as Libertarians, Greens, and other third parties historically haven’t been competitive, suggesting that the American electorate ultimately are persuaded to vote either Democratic or Republican out of pragmatism, or what Americans crudely but commonly refer to as “choosing between the lesser of two evils.”

Americans for whatever reasons – believing in mainstream media’s narrative that only one of the two-party candidates can win or the fact that third party candidates are unable to raise enough funds from big donors to adequately compete – eventually find themselves despite support for a third party, choosing a Democrat or Republican candidate.

According to a Gallup September 2024 poll, 69% of political independents, 53% of Democrats, 48% of Republicans favor the creation of a third party.

Gallup shows partisans have typically been more supportive of third parties when the sitting president is from the opposing party, and less supportive when their own party is in the White House. The U.S. has maintained a two-party system since the Republican Party became the second major party in 1854. The two-party duopoly system appears to be unbreakable and almost guaranteed to uphold this trend in the upcoming November 2024 election.

What happens in a two-party system duopoly?
An entrenched two-party system ultimately does not reflect a healthy robust democracy. We see in Europe there are multiple political parties. In the last French election just months ago, a third-party was able to win a majority in their Parliament by coalition-building among multiple parties.

Like in the free market where consumers benefit from more competition, it’s also in the best interest that Americans have more choices.

Because of this lack of real options, we see changes within the Republican and Democratic parties are painstakingly slow and unresponsive to the urgent needs of Americans. But when these transformations within parties finally do occur — for better or for worse — because of this sluggish response, these changes appear to take a sudden extremist turn out of desperation like when water suddenly reaches a boiling point.

The clearest example of this occurred in the takeover of Trump MAGA right-wing extremism in the Republican party from traditional GOP neocons. That change was swift and caught even political experts by surprise. Certainly, the Tea Party’s reemergence in 2012 paved the way for a MAGA revolution in the GOP, but prior to that the traditional neocons have been running the show since Ronald Reagan with little challenge in the Republican party internally.

What transformations are happening in the Democratic Party? In 2016 and 2020, the Democratic Party showed the emergence of Progressivism politics which movement continues. However, because the neocons and traditional conservatives lost their place within the GOP, the more independent faction of this group has now moved to the Democratic Party. This shift is more prominent among the big donors and establishment corporatocracy of the GOP. As a result, there is a “hijacking” effect of the Democratic party with the new infiltration of disenfranchised Republicans-independents with greater tension within the Democrat party as a result. Furthermore the 2016, 2020 progressive revolution has lost ground, and their vision stunted in development in 2024.

Third party this election
While the need for a viable third party in the long-term would benefit Americans in having more choices and a stronger democracy, each election voters are faced with a real conundrum to either finally jump ship and vote third party knowing they would be voting for a losing candidate — and have the candidate they absolutely abhor — win or continue to vote once again for the same party out of a logic that you are voting for “the lesser of two evils.”

This election we are not advocating either way that voters should vote for a third-party. What we encourage as we do with all elections is that voters choose a candidate that best reflects their values and needs. This idea of a “spoiler” candidate is old and absurd. A political party cannot blame a third-party option as a spoiler candidate. All it shows is that your political party hasn’t earned enough votes to win because the leaders in your political party haven’t been listening to the needs of a majority of the electorate. And this should signal to the losing party to do better the next time.