Transcript In the United States, it is rare for a third party

Supporting standards comprise
35% of the U. S. History Test
11 (D)
Supporting Standard (9)
The student understands the impact of the
American civil rights movement.
The Student is expected to:
(C) Analyze the impact of third parties on
presidential elections
How much of an
impact do thirdparty candidates
have in general
elections?
In the United States, it is rare for
a third party (or independent)
candidate to perform well in a U.S.
election, and rare for one to actually
win the election. Below are any
elections where a candidate that
wasn’t a Republican or Democrat
obtained at least 5.0% of the vote.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1856
In 1856 the two-party system of Democrats and Whigs
collapsed. The Whigs, who had been one-half of the two-party
system since 1832 and had won the presidency in 1840 and
1848, disintegrated. Southern Whigs and a minority of
northern Whigs coalesced around the anti-immigrant and
anti-Catholic American Party, better known as the “Know
Nothing” movement. Their candidate was former
President Millard Fillmore, who won 22% but carried only
one state, Maryland, thus winning 8 electoral votes. Many
Northern Whigs, such as Abraham Lincoln, joined the newly
formed Republican Party. The Republicans ran John C.
Frémont, who finished second with 33.1% and 114 electoral
votes. Democrat James Buchanan won the election.
Slavery was not the only issue on voters’ minds during the 1856
presidential election. In this cartoon published in Philadelphia, the
artist satirized the Republican and Democratic candidates" appeals
to northern workers. In the background “Ten Cent Jimmy,” a
derisive name given by labor advocates to Democratic nominee
James Buchanan, promises a working class gathering he will put
them “on the same plan as the laborers of Europe, Ten Cents a Day.”
In the foreground, Republican nominee John Fremont, dressed in a
carpenter's smock cuts a bargain with former president James
Fillmore, crouching behind the fence, who promises to throw his
support behind Fremont if he can’t beat Buchanan. On the left, a
“Cheap grocery & provision store” offers pork, cabbages, and other
produce at prices beyond the purchasing power of a working man
making Buchanan’s promised ten cents a day. On the right is the
boardinghouse of “Mrs Woodbee Late Pierce” a disparaging
reference to Democratic incumbent Franklin Pierce, which offers
rooms to mechanics at an exorbitant three dollars a week.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1860
John C. Breckinridge, the third party candidate of southern
Democrats, got 18.2% of the popular vote and won 72
electoral votes from several south states. John Bell of
the Constitutional Union Party finished with 12.6% of the
popular vote, but only won 39 electoral votes from three
states. Though both Bell and Breckenridge were unable to
capture as many popular votes as the two main presidential
candidates (Republican Abraham Lincoln and
Democrat Stephen A. Douglas), this election would mark
the first time any third party received more electoral votes
than one of the major candidates in a US presidential
election. Douglas finished with 29.5% of the popular vote,
but only won 12 electoral votes from two states.
The above cartoon shows the 1860 presidential campaign. As
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas struggle for control of the
nation's vote, John Breckenridge tears away the South. John Bell
attempts in vain to repair the damage to the torn country. The
Republican Party scored a firm November triumph, taking every free
state except a fraction of New Jersey. Lincoln's winning margin over
Douglas in the North was solid—Lincoln garnered 54 percent of the
popular vote. Although less than 40 percent of those who went to the
polls throughout the nation actually voted for Lincoln, his support in
the North was so resounding that he would have won the necessary
electoral votes even if the results of his three opponents could have
been combined. It was a bittersweet moment for Lincoln and the
Republicans, however, as the political leaders of the South launched
an immediate drive for secession from the Union.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1892
James B. Weaver, the Greenback Labor nominee
in 1880, ran as presidential candidate for
the Populist Party. The Populist Party won 22
electoral votes and 8.51 percent of the popular
vote. Weaver became the first third-party
candidate to win a state since John Bell in the
transitional election of 1860. The Democratic
Party eventually adopted many Populist Party
positions after this election, notably the Populist
call for the free coinage of silver, making this
contest a prominent example of a delayed vote
for change.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1912
Republican Theodore Roosevelt ran as the “Bull Moose
Party” (Progressive Party) nominee in the 1912 election.
Roosevelt won 27.4% of the popular vote and carried six
states totaling 88 electoral votes. Overall, Roosevelt’s
effort was the most successful third-party candidacy in
American history. It was also the only third-party effort
to finish higher than third in the popular votes and only
the second to do so in electoral votes. Instead incumbent
Republican President William Howard Taft finished
third, taking only 23% of the popular vote and 8 electoral
votes. The split in the Republican vote gave
Democrat Woodrow Wilson victory with 42% of the
popular vote, but 435 electoral votes.
Split in the
Republican Party
Theodore Roosevelt tried to get
the Republican nomination, but
failed. He then split with the
Republican Party and formed the
Progressive (Bull Moose) Party.
This new party had a bold
progressive platform called “New
Nationalism.” It was radical and
called for women’s suffrage and
minimum wage.
The “Back from Elba”
movement pushed for
TR’s re-entry into the
political fray.
“Delighted Democrats
looked on as Taft and
Roosevelt fought for
the Republican
nomination. As the
incumbent president,
Taft controlled the
party machinery, and
when the Republican
convention met in
June 1912, he took the
nomination.”
Progressive
Republicans reconvened after the
party nominated Taft.
They formed
themselves into an
new “Progressive
Party”—a.k.a., the
“Bull Moose” Party—
and selected TR as
their candidate. Thus
evolved “the fist
important threecornered presidential
contest since 1860.”
Election of 1912
Taft the
Republican
Roosevelt of the
“Bull Moose”
Party
Wilson the
Democrat
Election of 1912
Wilson
6.29 million
Theodore Roosevelt split the
RooseveltRepublican4.1
million
vote
& handed the
election to 3.5
Democrat
Taft
million Wilson.
435
88
8
Complements
Readiness Standard (5)
The Student understands the effects of
reform and third-party movements in
the early 20th century
Summary of
1912
– No third-party candidate has ever won a U.S.
presidential election. The strongest showing for
a third-party candidate came in 1912, when
former President Teddy Roosevelt left the
Republican Party. He ended up coming in
second, with 27.4 percent of the popular vote and
88 electoral votes.
– It’s generally agreed that Roosevelt’s 1912
candidacy took votes away from the Republican
candidate, incumbent President William Howard
Taft, allowing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win
with just 41.8 percent of the popular vote.
Sidebar to the 1912
election
Eugene V. Debs, running
in his fourth consecutive
Presidential election as
the Socialist Party
candidate, won 6% of the
vote, an all-time high for
the Socialists. The
elections of 1860 and
1912 are the only two
times that four
candidates each cleared
5% of the popular vote in
a Presidential election.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1924
Erstwhile Republican Robert M. La
Follette ran as a Progressive. After the
Democrats nominated conservative John W.
Davis, many liberal Democrats turned to La
Follette. He received 4,831,706 votes for
16.6% of the popular vote and won his home
state of Wisconsin receiving 13 electoral
votes. With the Democrats split, incumbent
President Calvin Coolidge won election by a
wide margin.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1948
Democrat Strom Thurmond ran on
the segregationist States’ Rights (“Dixiecrat”) ticket.
Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace ran on the
liberal left as the candidate of a new Progressive Party.
Thus the Democratic vote was split three ways, between
Thurmond on the right, Wallace on the left, and
incumbent President Harry S. Truman in the center.
Thurmond received 1,175,930 votes (2.4%) and 39 votes
in the electoral college from Southern states. Wallace
earned 1,157,328 votes for an identical 2.4% of the
popular vote, but no votes in the Electoral College due to
his support being mostly concentrated in the more
populous states of New York and California.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1968
Former Democratic Governor
of Alabama George Wallace ran on
the American Independent Party line.
Wallace received 9,901,118 votes for
13.5% of the popular vote, receiving 45
electoral votes in the South and many
votes in the North. Wallace remains the
only third party candidate since 1948 to
win a state.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1980
Congressman John B. Anderson received
5,719,850 votes, for 6.6% of the vote, as an
independent candidate for
President. Libertarian Party candidate Ed
Clark won 921,128 votes, or 1.1% of the
total. No other Libertarian candidate has
ever gotten more than 0.5% in a
presidential election until Gary Johnson
won 1% in 2012.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1992
Ross Perot, an independent, won 18.9% of
the popular vote (but no electoral votes).
His was the second-best popular vote
showing ever for a third-party candidate,
trailing only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
Perot finished second in two states: in
Utah ahead of election winner Bill Clinton,
and in Maine ahead of incumbent
President George H. W. Bush.
The election of 1992 also ensured
a rather unlikely victory for
Democrat challenger Bill Clinton
over incumbent George H. W.
Bush.
Texas businessman H. Ross Perot
entered the race as a conservative
challenger and split the
Republican vote.
All 538 electoral votes of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout
55.2%
Bush wins with popular votes give to Perot
Bill Clinton
George H. W.
Bush
H. Ross Perot
Party
Democrat
Republican
Independent
Home state
Arkansas
Texas
Texas
Running mate
Al Gore
Dan Quayle
James Stockdale
Electoral vote
370
168
0
States carried
32 + DC
18
0
Popular vote
44,909,806
39,104,550
19,743,821
43.0%
37.5%
18.9%
Nominee
Percentage
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
1996
Ross Perot ran for
president again,
this time as the
candidate of the
newly
formed Reform
Party. He won 8%
of the popular vote.
Significant Third
Party Performances in
United States Elections
2000
Many say third-party candidate Ralph
Nader played a “spoiler” role in the 2000
election. Running to the left of Democrat
Al Gore, Nader received 97,488 popular
votes in Florida, a state Republican George
W. Bush won by just 537 votes. If most of
the Nader supporters had voted for Gore
instead, Gore would have won Florida’s 25
electoral votes, and he would have been
elected president instead of Bush.
Honorable
mention
Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884–1968) was an American
Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist,
pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for
the Socialist Party of America. The 1928 campaign was
the first of six consecutive campaigns of Thomas running
as the Presidential nominee of the Socialist Party. As an
articulate and engaging spokesman for democratic
socialism, Thomas’ influence was considerably greater
than that of the typical perennial candidate. Although
most upper and middle class Americans
viewed socialism as an unsavory form of political
thought, the well-educated Thomas — who often wore
three-piece suits and looked and talked like a president gained grudging admiration.
Looking to the
future?
Does the Tea Party have a
future?
There have been several relatively successful third party
movements in American history. In light of the recent rise
of the modern Tea Party movement, a refresher on some of
them could prove insightful. Third party movements in
America have generally come about during times of great
social and economic stress and/or change. Typically, they
have begun as social protest movements, coalesced into
political movements, and eventually formed into
parties. They have also often met their demise after failed
presidential bids, while their issues were diluted and
partially co-opted by the major parties.
The Bottom
line
Third-party candidates rarely win
elections, but they can split
parties. That can impact the
outcome of an election when a
third-party candidate is especially
strong, or when the race between
the two other candidates is
especially close.
Appendix
Winners & Losers
Elections from 1808 through 1852
Year
1804
Winning Candidate (Party)
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)
1808
James Madison (Democratic-Republican)
1812
1816
1820
James Madison (Democratic-Republican)
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican)
1824
John Q. Adams (Democratic-Republican)
1828
Andrew Jackson (Democratic)
1832
Andrew Jackson (Democratic)
1836
Martin Van Buren (Democratic)
1840
William Henry Harrison (Whig)
1844
James K. Polk (Democratic)
1848
Zachary Taylor (Whig)
1852
Franklin Pierce (Democratic)
Losing Candidate(s) (Party)
Charles Pinckney (Federalist)
Charles Pinckney (Federalist), George
Clinton (Democratic-Republican)
Dewitt Clinton (Federalist)
Rufus King (Federalist)
John Q. Adams (Democratic-Republican)
Andrew Jackson, William H.
Crawford, Henry Clay (DemocraticRepublican)
John Q. Adams (National Republican)
Henry Clay, John Floyd (National
Republican); William Wirt (Anti-Masonic)
William Henry Harrison, Hugh L.
White, Daniel Webster, W. P.
Mangum (Whig)
Martin Van Buren (Democratic)
Henry Clay (Whig), James G. Birney, Amos
Ellmaker (Liberty)
Lewis Cass (Democratic), Martin Van
Buren (Free Soil)
Winfield Scott (Whig), John P. Hale (Free
Soil)
Fini