The United States has maintained the two-party system. According to Christine Barbour and Gerald C. Wright, “Throughout most of our history, in fact, the Democrats and the Republicans have been the only parties with a viable chance of winning the vast majority of elective offices”(Keeping the Republic, 2011)
Then, are Americans satisfied with the two-party system? To find out the view of Americans on the two-party system, I interviewed an American woman who is 51 years old and works in a bank. First I asked whether she was satisfied with the two-party system. She replied that she was satisfied with the current two-party system. She said that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party currently reflected the opinion of the people adequately. And she replied that though she had heard of the third party such as the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party, actually she didn’t know about the third party, so she didn’t feel the necessity of the third party. Also she said that if there was a third party, Americans would be more confused and Washington D.C would be more noisy. Therefore, she answered that in her opinion it is more preferable to maintain the two-party system for the United States.
But the poll conducted by Gallup recently on the necessity of the third party showed quite different result. According to the poll, 46% of Americans thought that a third major party was needed and 45% of Americans replied that a third major party was not needed. This result is a big surprise to me. Because the United States has maintained the relatively successful and stable