The only years with a strong Independent Presidential Challenger

en.wikipedia.org...

1856
1860
1892
1896
1912
1924
1948
1968
1980
1992
1996

Those were the only US Presidential elections where an Independent candidate won a least 5% of the popular vote.

1856

22% Know-Nothing Party

1860

30% Northern Democrats
18% Southern Democrats
13% Constitutional Union

1892

9% Populist Party

1896

47% Populist Party / Democratic Party

1912

27% Progressive Party
6% Socialist Party of America

1924

17% Progressive Party

1968

14% American Independent Party

1980

7% Independent Politician

1992

19% Independent Politician

1996

8% Reform Party

***1948 there was no single Independent who won 5%***




It is a sad thing when only 11 out of 55 presidential elections gave an Independent or Third Party politician at least 5% of the popular vote. It just goes to show the grip the Two Party system has on this nation. We had only one Independent president in American history and his term was from 1789-1797 and his name was George Washington.

Independents have a rough time getting the funding, air time, etc. necessary to be strong candidates. Too many people are wrapped up in the Democrat/Republican nonsense to pay attention to any candidates that aren't on their TV screens every 15 minutes and unfortunately don't do enough research into alternatives to the latest Democrat/Republican flunky to get the nomination. It's rather sad really.

reply to post by Misoir


I would say the two major parties are well established in DC and have been so for decades that they will always well outpace the small parties in funding, in exposure. That being said the American people take the bulk of the blame. There is nothing stopping an individual from voting third party. it is a shame we are so influenced by what is being displayed on the TV, through the media, we never pay attention to the options out there. Most of us need the parties to present themselves to us, we need the options given, we never go out there to look for the options and that is just a fact. I would also go further to argue that there is yet to be a 'strong' third party candidate to vote for.

In anycase while I think both of the major parties are well established, I doubt a third party in power would make much difference. Truth is after some time being in power that third party will just get as bloated and corrupted as the last two parties. I think a significant part of the problem is that the american people don't venture out beyond two parties, but I do believe the bulk of the problem lies with the system itself. Truth is we can complain about lobbyists but our laws allow them to freely petition the government. We complain about special interests but our laws allow corporations to donate unlimited sums of money to our representitives. Its a system like this that allows for a firm established elite in DC.