INDIANAPOLIS (Indiana News Service): Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are dominating the headlines, but in many states, other names will be on the November ballot. Former GOP congressional aide Evan McMullin announced his candidacy last week. He joined third-party and independent candidates, including Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Jill Stein with the Green Party.
John Clark, professor of political science at Western Michigan University explained the nation’s long two-party system tradition makes it nearly impossible for anyone other than major-party candidates to win the presidency.
“Unless you count maybe Ross Perot’s run in 1992, there hasn’t been a minor-party candidate or an independent candidate that’s had close to 20 percent of the national vote,” he said. “And it’s been a long time since one has won any Electoral College votes.”
The electoral system is based on plurality rule, with the win going to the candidate who gets the most votes. Clark said the result is a two-party system that would take a constitutional amendment to change. But he noted third-party and independent candidates do serve a purpose by shaping election outcomes in the short term, or major political parties in the long run.
This year, Clark expects minor parties to play the role of spoiler, and cited the best example as Ralph Nader’s Green Party campaign in 2000. While Nader didn’t receive a lot of votes, Clark said it was a close election, where even 200 votes in a state like Florida could have changed the outcome to swing in Al Gore’s favor instead of President George W. Bush.
“This may or may not be that kind of super-close election, but there’s every reason to think that it’s not going to be a huge landslide,” he added. “And if that’s the case, then siphoning off votes from one of the major-party candidates could mean that one of these minor-party candidates is a spoiler.”
A poll last week showed in a four-candidate race, Clinton was ahead of Trump, 44 to 38 percent; Libertarian Gary Johnson had 10 percent of the vote; and Green Party candidate Jill Stein got four percent.
