Question

PLZ HELPPPP I AM ABOUT TO FAIL

A group of citizens believe that neither of the two major parties reflects their political views. Consequently, they form a political party to nominate candidates for public office. These candidates promise that, if they are elected, they will pursue the group's policy preferences. The group's ideological orientation is left of center.

a) Describe the reason there are only two major political parties in the United States.

b) In the context of the scenario, explain the most likely outcome for the party's candidates in the general election.

c) In the context of the scenario, explain how the group’s presence in the general election will affect the outcome.

Answer 1

A) The US continues to have a two party system for various systematic reasonings, such as the winner-takes-all structure of voting. The winner-take-all feature of the Electoral College is when a candidate who gets the most votes wins all of a state's electoral votes. So even if a third party candidate gets more votes in certain districts, it is almost impossible for them to surpass the two major parties. This means that it is virtually impossible for a third party candidate to win unless A LOT of people start to vote for them, but since there is a lack in voter education that is very unlikely, reinforcing the two party system even more.

B) The candidates from the third party most likely will not win the election because, as states before, it is nearly impossible for them to win a full majority in a state and unless they do that, they will not get any electoral votes.

C) Even though the third party candidates will most likely not win the election, if they garner enough support from the people they may split the votes or take the votes away from another candidate. For example, if the group of citizens who started this new party typically vote democrat and now they are voting for this third party, the democratic candidate from before will lose all their votes. This means that the left wing vote is split between the third party candidate, who already has a very low chance of winning, and the democratic candidate, who (because of the third party formation) is losing a significant amount of their votes. This would cause the republican or right wing candidate to win the majority more easily because the left wing vote is split.