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Does the US need a 3rd political party?
US domestic policy has been stalemated for decades because our political system is badly in need of an upgrade. Multiple factors are at play here: The Electoral College, lobbyists, lack of term limits for Congress, but also that we are a nation divided into two with no other viable options.
We need a third political party.
Well, actually, we need no political parties as the Founding Fathers intended. Instead, a Congress of independents whose only responsibility is to their constituents and not a party and its whips. But that’s never going to happen, so a real third party is the best we can hope for.
Sorry, Libertarians, but you don’t represent a large enough percentage of the population to count. In 2020, the Libertarian vote was 1.2%, down from 2016. I’m looking for a genuine proportion of the electorate of at least 20–30%.
The current problem is that the vote is too equally split between the Republican party and the Democratic party. In 2020, the Democrats received 51.3% of the popular vote vs. 46.9% for the Republicans, and took the Electoral College to win the Presidency. In 2016, the Democrats again had more of the vote (48.1% vs. 46%) but lost the Electoral College and thus the Presidency.