In 1992, Ross Perot, the third-party candidate of the Reform Party, got 18.9% of the popular vote. Perot didn’t win any electoral votes but did finish second in two states, ahead of George H.W. Bush in Maine and Bill Clinton in Utah. The margin of victory was less than 3% in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Ohio. Pundits have argued for over 30 years whether Perot helped swing the election toward Bill Clinton. The results are inconclusive.
In 2024, third-party and Independent presidential candidates include Chase Oliver, Jill Stein, Claudia De la Cruz, Cornel West, Peter Sonski, and Shiva Ayyadurai. Seven swing states continually poll as being within the margin of error. If the voters for these candidates voted as a bloc, they could swing the election in favor of Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. That isn’t likely to happen, but a dynamic candidate from a third party could be the difference, not by winning but by determining which of the major political parties gets to govern.
There is a widespread fear that voting for a third party is throwing away your vote. By voting for a candidate who can’t possibly win, you open up the possibility that the candidate you least desire to win will do so. In full disclosure, I’ve never voted for a third-party candidate and will not do so in the 2024 election. Yet, there are valid reasons to consider voting for a third party. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr. discussing rioters, voting third-party is the language of the unheard.
One could argue that the Democratic Party and Republicans have little policy differences on any number of issues. Palestinian Americans have typically supported Democrats, but both parties promise unwavering support for Israel and won’t cut the flow of money and weapons. How better to voice contempt for a policy than by voting for a candidate who stands with you on the issues? Log Cabin Republicans have gotten nowhere in getting the Republican Party to move on LGBTQ issues. Pro-choice Republicans may support bodily autonomy for women yet find themselves unable to support a Democratic candidate. Black voters may decide they haven’t gotten enough of a return on their solid support of Democrats. Voters are told they have only two options and must settle for the lesser of two evils.
The Democratic Party was formed in 1828. The first presidential election that featured political parties was in 1796 with the Democratic-Republican Party vs. the Federalists. Democrats elected the 7th President, Andrew Jackson. Democrats rose from the ashes of the Democratic-Republican Party, which devolved into factions after 1824. The Republican Party was organized in the mid-1850s from the ruins of the Whig Party and Free Soil Democrats. Both parties began as something different than the parties that existed before.
George Wallace joined the American Independent Party, formed in 1967 to support his presidential run. Wallace earned 46 electoral votes in 1968 and got 13.5% of the vote. It would be hard to say Wallace changed the result based on the Richard Nixon landslide (301–191) over Hubert Humphrey in the Electoral College, yet in the popular vote, Nixon’s margin of victory was less than 1% or 510,000 votes.
Recently, there has been deception with third-party candidates. People have been put up to run to dilute votes from their opponents. Some plan to run to make a point, scheduled to give in later and support a candidate they were in league with all along. Some third-party candidates are only interested in selling books and raising money. Others run as a joke. Yet, it’s feasible that a sincere candidate will run on issues supported by a majority of the American people, at least being taken seriously enough to move other candidates toward their positions, and they might even win.
Where the money would come from to support such a candidate is unclear. But third parties have risen before and may again. It’s more American than apple pie, which appeared in British cookbooks as early as 1390. The point is, I could conceivably vote for a third party to express my displeasure with the choices, just not in 2024. Both parties often take their voters for granted when we do have options. A trend toward voting for third parties would get them to pay attention.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.