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The easiest place to get votes is the center, where the majority sits. Trump claimed some of it but there may be enough left to rake in some donations. Determining what the majority wants is the work that both parties failed to do for so many years, so it's not a free lunch.
Don't forget the electors are chosen from within the two main parties, along with whatever electors can qualify in a third. Electors are already committed to their party from the first. Trying to get them to change is far harder than getting the voters for a third party.
Considering all the obstacles, as long as the electoral college exists, I simply cannot see how a 3rd party can ever get enough electors to win the Presidency.
Our Constitution is loaded very strongly toward a 2-party system, and because it is, so are all our state laws that govern the electoral college.
Given all this, the only way a 3rd party has ever risen and become so strong and unified as to replace one of the existing major parties is if one of the big one collapses in on itself first.
The collapse doesn't have to be complete for a 3rd party's rise; the Whigs still existed when Lincoln bailed out and joined the brand-new Republican Party, but the Whigs' unity had fallen apart and they had suffered a failed President and a major loss of state party strength.
Even after Lincoln's election, the Whigs were still strong enough to put up a candidate in the 1864 election when Lincoln won his second term. But within one or two more elections, the Whigs were all done in for good and disbanded.
The Whigs were the last successful 3rd party America has seen.
The only way to build strength in the electoral college is to have real strength in the direct elections first- the state, local, and Congressional elections. And that means winning over many high-population voting districts in the big red and blue states as a first step.
Ultimately, electing a President would require at least two or three big high-population state going solidly for the new 3rd party along with may districts from all over the nation.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but if you were to start building a party today, it would take some mighty attractive candidates and at least a decade of steady state and Congressional wins to become strong enough to mount a serious threat to the Republican and Democratic parties.
Anything less, and the party would become nothing but a Libertarian or Green wanna-be. Always there, but seldom counted for much of anything.
The White House can't be won without a huge base of support underneath a campaign that is solid, funded, and experienced and has a whale of a candidate who appeals to massive masses on all sides.
Last edited by banjomike; 02-14-2019 at 09:04 PM..
I would be all for a strong Libertarian candidate. But until then, I'm voting D, even though I don't like how left it's getting. At this rate, I will probably vote for a moderate GOP candidate over a far left Democrat before too long.
Are you fed up and ready to consider a third party?
Too late.
Even if a 3rd party candidate won, they would still have a congress full of Democrats and Republicans.
Other countries have numerous political parties that accurately represent the diverse political ideals of their country. In America, we're much more stupid and prefer it to be either black or white.
I'm so fed up that had Trump, who I think is a lousy POTUS, run third party in 2016 I would have voted for him if he had a good chance of smacking down both major parties.
The serious FED UP crowd voted for the “3rd Party” Candidate for President in 2016 .. and he won.
We recognized him as a 3rd Party Candidate when we saw that Republicans fought him harder than they ever fought any Democrat or Socialist. It’s why the Leftists, the GOP Elite and the Media fear him and more than that ... the both Fear and Loath all who supported him.
We must stop this right-wing authoritarian Christian nationalist movement or in a few years, we won't have a free country anymore. The only way to do that is by voting D in 2020. Unfortunately I think it's already too late.
You have it backwards. It's the Democrats who are the authoritarians. They enforce their political correctness and censor what they don't agree with. They want to take our freedom away.
Your third party idea has no hope of sucess its only taking votes from one of the two existing parties.
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