# Why aren't voters turning to third parties for the 2016 election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 9, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028 "2016-10-09T03:42:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/21 "2016-10-09T22:04:19Z")
I googled jill stein and the consensus I seen was she was just as looney toons as ben carson … just on the opposite side politically … ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/22 "2016-10-09T22:07:08Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I googled jill stein and the consensus I seen was she was just as looney toons as ben carson … just on the opposite side politically … Read our Jill Stein thread if you want more; she’s a wacko for sure. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/23 "2016-10-09T22:30:58Z")
I think the main reason is, even if a third party candidate is elected President, the two major parties still control Congress, so what can the President accomplish? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/24 "2016-10-10T00:15:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What is \*not \*guaranteed is that the Big Two will always be the Democrats and the Republicans forever. Either by that name or by some later name(s). > > The most plausible way the current duopoly is replaced with a different duopoly is that one party fragments as a result of some deep-seating internal contradiction. Some fragments stick to the other party, and some fragments re-coalesce around a new core. This is pretty much how the Republicans replaced the Whigs. And it explains why the the Republicans did not go through the same issue with the Bull Moose (Progressive) Party–the ideological divisions that drove Roosevelt to create that party were not evenly balanced and not many Republicans actually joined, with most returning to the Republican Party within four years. Similarly, the Dixiecrats were only formed as an election gambit for the presidency in 1948 and never actually established state wide parties separate from the Democratic Party. Later, some Dixiecrats simply moved to the Republican Party with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/25 "2016-10-10T00:41:06Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > This is pretty much how the Republicans replaced the Whigs. > … > Later, some Dixiecrats simply moved to the Republican Party with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. With a very brief stopover in Wallace’s American Independent Party. I suspect each generation needs to learn about game theory the hard way. the idea of a 3rd party President as neutral arbitrator and outsider head-knocker to a log-jammed is real seductive. Naïve, but seductive. I got say though that I really wish the Bull Moose had had some legs. Between the cool name, TR, and muscular Progressivism, they coulda been somebody. Ands we could be living in a very different country today. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/26 "2016-10-10T00:44:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > With a very brief stopover in Wallace’s American Independent Party. Some may have waited until 1968 and hung out with Wallace. Strom Thurmond switched directly to the Republicans in 1964. I do not have names and numbers for others who might have been affected. ---
**Author:** ![Standhume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Standhume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standhume)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/27 "2016-10-11T02:59:33Z")
Politics to me is a game For those who seek power and fame There’s no truth nor reason In any election Season And the population has no choice and no say. Voting’s a show The college will know And tell you who’s holding the strings This thing you hold dear for every four years Will blind you to an obvious truth Its does not matter For while they will certainly flatter The truly care nothing for you. The workers abandoned The middle class saddened And the fools continue to cast their votes For all who have caused it and secretly applaud it every time you are robbed by the rich. ( the first and probably last poem I have written. what a piece of shit! but I made my point and entertained myself so…I win.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/28 "2016-10-11T12:56:00Z")
Nice poem. I’m glad you included “to me” in the beginning. Politics matters … a lot. You (any you) can choose to be a cynical drop-out. In which case your prophesy becomes self-fulfilling. Passengers don’t get to steer. Not even a little bit. ISTM they also forfeit their right to complain about where they get taken. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/29 "2016-10-11T16:29:33Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I think the main reason is, even if a third party candidate is elected President, the two major parties still control Congress, so what can the President accomplish? That was my thinking as well; the whole thing is geared around trying to align the executive branch with the legislative branch, so that desired legislation can get passed and signed relatively easily. When they’re at odds, they’re against each other. Having a congress of two parties, and an executive of a third seems, in our system, to set it up as a perpetual opposition- the executive isn’t going to agree with either party consistently. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/30 "2016-10-11T16:39:40Z")
“I can’t decide between the apple pie and the peach pie.” “Why not try something different-this mud pie my six year old just put together?” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/31 "2016-10-11T19:07:55Z")
Which the cynics & true believers recast as “I can’t decide between the bird poop pie and the dog shit sandwich.” “Why not try something pure and organic and real and fresh?” Of course they’re confused. But their hope springs eternal. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028/32 "2016-10-11T19:16:32Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > So why do voters brave and hardy > not vote for some third party? I might have voted Libertarian to rule our lands If only he could find his ass with both his hands [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-voters-turning-to-third-parties-for-the-2016-election/768028.md?page=1)