It seems clear that many Americans are disgusted with the two party system, as they see the Democrats and the Republicans as “owned” by Wall Street and the billionaires.
So therefore, there are calls for a third party or independent movement, but it is unlikely to happen in any serious way, and certainly, will have little or no effect on who wins the Presidency.
But if any effect, it would lead to those who are discontented discovering that by voting for a third party or independent candidate, they have helped to elect the worse choice of the two major party nominees!
In American history, twice there has been a serious third party or independent nominee who has helped to defeat a sitting President or a popular vote winner and promoted the election of a candidate seen by many who voted for the third party as far less desirable.
Only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912; and Ralph Nader in 2000 are seen as having any real impact on the election results, helping to lead to the election of Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush. William Howard Taft lost his Presidency due to the third party candidacy of TR; and Al Gore lost the chance to be President because of the third party candidacy of Ralph Nader.
Looking ahead to 2016, there is no prominent personality planning to run on a third party. Those who have said they would not run include: former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman; former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura; Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders; and environmentalist Ralph Nader. These individuals have a certain appeal to many Americans, but they well recognize they have no chance to win, and could only mess up the election by running, as NO third party or independent has EVER been elected President, with only Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 making a really respectable performance as candidate of the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party, winning 6 states nationwide, 27.5 percent of the popular vote and ending up second rather than third, and gaining 88 electoral votes!
Very much agree Professor. The swing voter is who we are trying to reach. You tell them that Democrats are bad, they stay home, and we lose to Republicans.
The PCTC blog is trying to create an alternate progressive media network to out-shout the “Democrats are bad” lefties.
http://pleasecutthecrap.com/help-create-a-grassroots-progressive-media-network-please/
In his PDF about the alternate network, he mentions about anti-Democrat lefties wanting ideological purity. That’s the same thing the Tea Party wants of the right-wing.
http://pleasecutthecrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PCTC-Network-Proposal.pdf
Winning Progressive no longer has a blog. They only use a Facebook page now.
https://www.facebook.com/WinningProgressive
When they had a blog, they weren’t too keen on the idea of third parties either.