I. Introduction………………………………………………………………3

II. Methodology……………………………………………………………...3-6

III. Devurger’s Law: The “Wasted Vote” and the “Spoiler Effect”………….6-9

IV. Presidential Electoral System…………………………………………….9-12

V. Anti-fusion Laws…………………………………………………………12-14

VI. Financial Constraints……………………………………………………..14-16

VII. Campaign Finance Reform……………………………………………….16-18

VIII. Public Finance – An Improvement to the Institution…………………….18-20

IX. The Co-Option of Third Party Agendas………………………………….20-22

X. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….22

XI. References………………………………………………………………

Exploring the political and social diversity in the American electorate and examining the potential for political change ra

Co-option has been the major parties’ strategy for responding to third party success. The major parties have tried to absorb third parties through support of their policies, use of their rhetoric, and appointments to public office. Historian John Hicks put it the best.

“Almost all the societies probably have enough social divisions to accommodate at least three political parties.”

The major parties have been slow to adopt some third-party ideas, especially the complaints of the agrarian movements of the later nineteenth century, but they eventually work to co-opt the movements. As Theodore Lowi has summarized,

In searching for reasons that explain the institutional barriers for third party candidates, this literary review considers the seminal works on comparative electoral systems, from Maurice Duverger’s Law to more recently produced studies by William Riker (1982), Gary Cox (1997), Jae-On Kim and Mahn-Geum Ohn (1992), Alan Ware (1996) and Octavio Amorim Neto (1997). This review also covers studies by Howard Scarrow (1985) and Paul Abramson, John Aldrich, Phil Phaolino, and David Rohde (1995) that adapt this literature to the American system. More general reviews are also analyzed of third-party history by Steven Rosenstone, Roy Behr, and Edward Lazarus (1984), John Bibby and Sandy Maisel (1998) and David Gillepsie (1993). Lastly, dissertations by Joan Bryce (1996) and Jimmie McClellan (1984) that categorize the barriers for American third parties are combined with the literature on individual roadblocks and an overview by Theodore Lowi (1998) to present an overall picture of the barriers facing third parties in the United States.

Some topics in this essay:
Ross Perot, Democracy Greens, Neto Cox, Anderson FECA, Duverger’s Law, Green Party, Perot Anderson, Electoral College, House Representatives, Richard Winger, third parties, third party, campaign finance, major parties, major party, two-party system, public financing, party candidates, anti-fusion laws, third party candidates, electoral college, campaign finance reform, third party success, percent popular vote, five percent 5%,