Is it time for a third party?

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: NATIONAL

America's two-party system makes it hard for third-party candidates to break through. Could this year be different?

Dylan Blair was devastated when Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic primary. Blair isn't a fan of Democrat Hillary Clinton, so the 23-year-old from Wilder, Vermont, is throwing his support to Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president.

"The American people shouldn't be held hostage to a two-party system and forced to accept the lesser of two evils," Blair says, explaining his enthusiasm for a third party.

Blair isn't alone. Dissatisfaction with this year's major-party nominees, Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, is driving some voters to at least consider voting for a third-party candidate.

With third parties getting little attention from the media, you may be unaware that names besides Clinton's and Trump's will appear on the ballot on Election Day. Voters could choose Stein, whose Green Party emphasizes environmental issues. They could support Gary Johnson of the

Libertarian Party, which favors smaller government and more individual liberty. They could pick Evan McMullin, a former CIA official who's running as an independent and wants to give mainstream Republicans an alternative to Trump. And there are other, lesser known candidates.

The Founding Fathers

In fact, third parties have a long history in American politics, but they're rarely given much chance of winning, which is why the U.S. is said to have a "two-party system." Third parties, however, can influence elections, and sometimes affect the outcomes (see "Spoiler Alert!").

"They do have an impact in the sense that they can drain votes away from one candidate or another and change what might happen in a state," says William Rosenberg, a political scientist at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

The dominance of two parties traces back to the nation's beginning. The Founding Fathers disliked the idea of political parties, viewing them as "factions" that would lead to fierce partisan division. But within a few years, two parties--originally the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans--established themselves.

Once Americans were used to two major parties, the system stuck. Later, rules were put in place that favor a two-party system.

In the first century of American democracy, there was more flux in terms of which parties dominated. In 1854, when the Republican Party was founded, the major American parties were the Democrats and the Whigs. But the Whigs were...