Difficulty Of Third Parties

The current electoral difficulty for third parties is a result of constitutional and institutional roles. According to our textbook, “under federal election law, any minority party receiving more than 5 percent of the national presidential vote is entitled to federal funds” (Pg. 353). This threshold is difficult for most of the third parties. As we all know, funds are the lifeblood of election campaigns so if these third parties cannot secure funds, their campaigns are crippled. It is important to note that even those third parties that are able to secure federal funds do not always win the election. This was the case in 1996, when Ross Perot, the Reform Party nominee secured 8.2 percent of the votes. The party was able to get federal funds, but did not win the presidential election.
Another difficulty faced by third parties is their size relative to the two major parties (i.e.
Republican and Democratic Party). Any initiative or cause that third parties decide to tackle, the two major parties follow suit. The result is the loss of competitive advantage on the part of the third parties, which translates to the loss of votes. However, third parties still influence election results by splitting the votes of either Republicans or Democrats. Earlier this year, presidential candidate Donald Trump had threatened to run independently if he was denied the Republican Party nomination (the link for the article is below). His comments were not well received considering he had promised not to run independently back in September 2015. I started wondering why the Republican Party would be disturbed if a candidate decides to run independently. The simple answer is that such a move would split the Republican votes hence ensuring the victory to the Democratic
Party.

For third parties to gain more traction, I think an election reform is necessary starting with election funds. There should be more financial assistance provided to third party nominees to help them campaign at similar levels with the two major parties. These candidates need to appear on social media platforms, TV channels, newspapers, and bill boards. To be honest, I started looking up third party nominees only this month. I waited until most of the primaries were over and the candidates for the two major parties were streamlined to one or two. I did not hear any buzz regarding independent candidate debate so I had to do my own research on the candidates. Clearly, there is a need for more exposure of third party nominees to the public. (Word count 410)

http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/donald-trump-threat-to-run-as-independent-counterproductive-party-chief-1327591