Support for Third U.S. Political Party at High Point

[DonViejo]

Source: Gallup


FEBRUARY 15, 2021

BY JEFFREY M. JONES

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

62% say a third party is needed, up from 57% in September

Highest support for a third party by one percentage point

A record-high 63% of Republicans favor a third party

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' desire for a third party has ticked up since last fall and now sits at a high in Gallup's trend. Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults say the "parties do such a poor job representing the American people that a third party is needed," an increase from 57% in September. Support for a third party has been elevated in recent years, including readings of 60% in 2013 and 2015 and 61% in 2017.

Meanwhile, 33% of Americans believe the two major political parties are doing an adequate job representing the public, the smallest percentage expressing this view apart from the 26% reading in October 2013.

The latest results are from a Jan. 21-Feb. 2 poll. The survey was conducted before recent news reports that dozens of government officials in prior Republican administrations were in discussions to form an anti-Donald Trump third political party.

The survey found Americans' favorable opinion of the Republican Party has declined to 37%, while 48% view the Democratic Party positively. The poll also shows 50% of U.S. adults identifying as political independents, the highest percentage Gallup has ever measured in a single poll.

Read more: https://news.gallup.com/poll/329639/support-third-political-party-high-point.aspx

[Squinch]

1. Lol! This is the bright side. Republicans are totally politically suicidal. Bring it, patriots!

[NurseJackie]

2. Yes! The "Patriot" party will divide and weaken the GOP...

... in the same way that the "Green" party has the same effect on the Democrats.

Fact of the matter is, when it comes to national elections and governing, we have a defacto two-party system. Unless the current system changes, a "third" party will not be viable unless and until the party they hope to replace dissolves or collapses. In the meantime, the opposition party benefits.

Good luck to the Patriot party!

[70sEraVet]

7. We don't even have an effective TWO-party system!

When a Presidential candidate can be elected to office with less than 50% of the vote in a TWO-party system, going to a viable THREE-party system is like teaching chess to someone who can't grasp the rules of checkers!

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

28. Ever heard of Duverger's Law?

It says that a "simple-majority single-ballot system favours the two-party system."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger's_law

[NurseJackie]

29. It's true. I don't anticipate a major change in our system any time soon.

Thanks for the link.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. Might as well call it the "Know Nothing" party..

... if they want the Trump family leading it.

And the nativism / xenophobia is similar to the old political party of that same name too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Fringe parties do not compete in the middle, and that's where voter majorities reside

Patriot, Libertarian, Tea, QAnon on the right - let's see which can be popularize fascism while telling us they're something else.

[DownriverDem]

5. repubs have a problem

Let the repubs split up. They deserve all the lost elections to come. As a proud member of the Democratic Party, I will work to beat them big time.

[myohmy2]

6. kumbaya?

...do you really want to see kumbaya between Dems and pukes?

...just start a 3rd Party...

...the one thing Dems and pukes would both totally agree upon, would be to join forces to fuck any 3rd Party any way they could...

...no, the pukes have to swirl around in the bowl for a while before they flush their big turds down...

...everyone's 3rd Party happy until it comes time to vote...

...sorry, that's the way it is in the U.S. of A...

[ancianita]

8. The new fascist dark (foreign) money, mafia and militia system. Go ahead and laugh now...

but don't think they won't wreck who and what they can. Their regrouping is no joke, folks.

There will be more "random" murders, more death threats, more @Trump War Room Big Lies and different lie machinery at work.
Using TV and the politics of personal destruction, they'll attack all Democratic candidates, and dragnet all THAT under Biden; whatever gets traction in 2022 will be used in the buildup to 2024.

If they can start a civil war again, they will.

Cybersecurity and the grid will have to further harden up.

[hay rick]

9. When people say they are "independent" they are saying they don't want to think about it.

American politics is drowning in all the fear-mongering that money can buy. Many people claim the "independent" tag as a concession to the avoidance-avoidance conflict that results when political parties and candidates are more easily demonized than understood. "Independent" voters are less likely to vote than either Republicans or Democrats. The majority can also be safely categorized as Democratic-leaning or Republican-leaning.

[marie999]

10. The big problem with a 3 party system is the chance that no one gets a majority of electoral votes.

Then the House elects the president and the Senate elects the vice-president. That of course is if that 3rd party can actually win some states. That means if one party gets 5 votes and the other 2 parties split the votes evenly, the party that got 5 votes could be elected.

[IronLionZion]

11. They should start a conservative party

since the Republican party has fallen off the cliff into authoritarian fascism.

[Initech]

12. Hey split the GOP vote! More for us!

[Bucky]

24. Unfortunately history shows the "lean righters" are more likely to line up & march

Follow the leader is a Republican game. That's why maverick light from South Carolina crawled so far up Trump's caboose. All of them but Romney did, frankly.

There's simply no interest in forming a third party on the right.

[J Magarac]

13. There are ever so many "third parties", not all the same tendency ...

... unless you count "insignificant" as a tendency.

Libertarian Party, Socialist Workers Party, Green Party, Constitution Party, yadda yadda yadda.

There's even still a Prohibitionist Party.

And a Communist Party properly self so called.

[Bucky]

25. 😆

[Barb arian]

14. Or,

we could take a cue from our Constitution and have no political parties whatsoever. In the Cyber Age, there are vastly better alternatives!

[Bucky]

26. There will always be parties.

It's a natural tendency. George Washington didn't want them, but they formed up in the first Congress informally and were locked in was names and formal affiliations before John Adams left office. The process of creating laws and policies produces party affiliations as naturally as warm and cold fronts produce rain

[TeamPooka]

15. DO IT TRUMPERS! YOU NEED YOUR OWNN PARTY!! GOP is the Deep state! Run away!

hahahahahahahahahahaha

[Hiawatha Pete]

17. +1

[PatrickforO]

16. This is an interesting post.

We are at 48% approval, and Gallup tends to skew a bit right.

As to a third party, it implies that would be a far-right leaning Republican Trumpist party, a centrist? Republican party, and the Democrats.

That would be great.

Right now, it looks like Biden is going to shape up as a transformative New Deal kind of president, and we need to keep that going. If the GOP splits, it will be good for us. If we split, not so much.

Remember folks, we need more common sense, and less ideology. Our government should work for us. The things Biden is doing and wants to do, are GOOD POLICY in a pragmatic sense, though the right wing noise machine describes them as 'far left.' The last thing we need is to have some kind of split.

[orleans]

18. i think it's a GREAT idea!

the q party
the trumplican party
the insurrectionists
whatever....
perhaps all
split, chop, mince, dice up the "republican" vote

[The Mouth]

19. There need to be at least three.

A left, a center, and a right.

at a minimum.

Let the people, left or right, who care about ideological purity have their parties and those who just care about streets, schools, and don't mind paying reasonable taxes that give us what we pay for, etc, have the center.

[keopeli]

20. I GUARANTEE you the 95% of the people here would REGRET the repugs splitting.

We have a very large party (Dems) right now with a wide array of ideologies and 50% of the population declared as Independent.

If a real Centrist party springs up, there will be many, MANY people who are voting Dem right now that will quickly switch to voting centrist. A new, centrist party could EASILY become the dominant party in just a couple of election cycles.

Lesson: be careful what you wish for...

[AZ8theist]

21. I don't agree with your assessment.

The "new" party would be a conservative one, formed to split conventional Republicans from the cult of Doturd Fascists.
While they would draw some from the independent center, they would effectively divide the current American Nazi party (Republicans) into two groups: Those who support fascism (the Trumpanzees) and Rockefeller Republicans. Each part would command, at most, 30% of the electorate.

This will ensure Democratic control of the government for generations to come.

[Bucky]

23. I sort of agree

The problem is that mainstream Democratic party is already that govern-from-the-middle party you're worried about.

And sadly the govern from the middle philosophy tends to produce politicians who don't rock the boat and don't produce inventive solutions to evolving modern problems.

In the end, a moderate party would wither away. If people are voting on purely ideological views on a two-dimensional spectrum, a moderate party would draw about 15% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats. In a majoritarian, first past the post democracy like we have, they would be squeezed out like Ross Perot in short order.

[Bucky]

22. That 62% may be misleading

The numbers of people who want there to be a third party are diffused among those wanting more moderate, liberal, left radical, right radical, libertarian, and old school Republican views being represented.

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. ...