third parties

Question 1

give 6 reasons for why third parties do not do well in US elections

Answer 1

• electoral college
• structural restrictions –> produces 2 national parties, primaries and caucuses eliminate third parties
• broad based nature of 2 main parties
• decentralised nature of party system
• public disrust
• impact previous third party candidates

Question 2

give 3 differences between the UK and US third parties

Answer 2

• UK = can still win seats in parliament, US = either win or lose presidency all together
• UK = can form a government –> coalition Cameron, confidence and supply May
• UK = regional third parties still have an influence –> SNP in Scotland

Question 3

give some similarities between UK and US third parties

Answer 3

• can win the popular vote but loose the presidency or having a majority under FPTP/ECV –> winner takes all systems

Question 4

explain the similarities between Perot and Farage regarding third parties

Answer 4

• Perot in 1992 with the Reform Party took votes from Bush Senior and got 18.9% of the vote but no ECV or states
• Farage in 2024 with Reform UK took votes from the Conservative Party and got 14.3% of the vote but only 5 seats
• shows disproportionality

Question 5

what influence did Ralph Nader have on the 2000 election

Answer 5

• he did well in Florida but not well enough to win the state so took votes from the democrats, allowing the Republicans to win those ECVs and therefore the presidency so G W. Bush won
• only half a % point determined the winner in Florida so shows tyranny of the minority