Trends: Third Parties and the Two-Party System

Abstract

Since late 1960s and early 1970s, there has been much discussion and concern about stability and strength of two-party system in America. After David Broder's (1971) declaration that the party's over, a debate emerged among political scientists and observers over whether Republicans and Democrats-and partisanship itselfwere indeed in decline. In large part, focus on party decline has generated ample evidence of increasing voter independence since 1952 (e.g., Beck 1984; Nie, Verba, and Petrocik 1979; Wattenberg 1996), although some controversy remains about whether voters may actually be covert partisans (Keith et al. 1992, p. 23). For those looking at general public support for party system, though, there has been less controversy. As Jack Dennis concluded in a 1975 article that looked at most of available indicators of party system strength over time, attitudes toward parties and evaluations of importance of party institution show, with few exceptions, a general state of low public regard and legitimation (p. 218). While some have argued that Republicans and Democrats have revitalized organizationally and have become increasingly competitive (e.g., Herrnson 1994; Reichley 1994), few would conclude that, generally speaking, major parties and two-party system are as sacred to American public today as they once were. Recently, discussion of party system instability has taken on a new twist with emergence of Ross Perot and increasing activity of third parties and independent candidates. While candidacies of George Wallace and John Anderson in 1968 and 1980 presidential elections attracted some attention to existent strains in system, it was not until Perot's surprising 19 percent showing in 1992 that cracks in two-party armor began to be fully apparent and alternatives to Republicans and Democrats credibly considered. Following Perot, a number of political observers-Theodore Lowi (1994) and Gordon Black and Benjamin Black (1994) among them-began to ar-