Why do you think there are only two major political parties in the United States?

Answer 1

They combine to make it difficult for a third party to get any representation. In a parliament system, a third party has a better chance. We desperately need a third party in the US, both are current parties are failing us badly.

Answer 2

I believe it's the way that votes are translated into electoral victories.

For example, the US generally has a "winner-take-all" approach to awarding seats or offices. If party A obtains 42 votes and party B obtains 31 votes and party C obtains 27 votes, then party A will receive the total political victory for that constituency, even though party A did not receive the majority (i.e. 51%) of the votes.

This results in both party B and party C to "gang up" and combine efforts to defeat party A next time, as dividing votes between them cost them this election.

By contrast, most European nations have proportional representation, so if the scenario above had occurred, the party A would receive 42% of the seats, the party B would receive 31% of the seats, and the party C would receive 27% of the seats. Thus, there is a political incentive for more parties, as voters of both parties B and C would impact policy proportional to the constituencies population demographics.

Answer 3

When it comes to politics, there are really only two general ends to the spectrum--liberal or conservative. There's no point in having more than one major party for each of these leanings, so you end up with two major parties.
Quite frequently, another party will spring up around a certain central issue, such as the Prohibition Party in the 1920s. These third parties can gain a lot of support, sometimes even getting their candidates elected to high-level offices--Theodore Roosevelt was a member of the Bull Moose Progressive Party--but once the issue is resolved, the party loses support and dies out.

Answer 4

None of the above The real reason we only have two parties is because at the local level, we only have two parties and you cannot support a national third party, without first having a local 3rd party and no one has tried to have a 3rd party for state legislative offices, or even for Congressional offices 2. And the fact that the two parties who control the state legislatures, have written the election rules making it almost impossible for a 3rd party to get on the ballots IE: you have to have signatures from 10% to 20% of the totasl number of people who voted in the last election, to get on ther ballot that means a 3rd party, has to have a strong local support system in every state, to get out and collect all those signatures to be able to get on a presidential ballot

Answer 5

actually there is only one. most people distrust the other more extreme parties. there is really very little difference between the two faction

american democrats (and the all important swing-vote) voted in a democratic congress to end the war. i think we pretty much meant right now. like, you get in office, monday morning i'm looking for change. you see much change? no, they decided to 'stay the course' with shrub. indeed the first major thing they did (after some hand-wrangling and tongue-wagging) was to grant the shrub more money for the war! with no defined pull-out date!

i think it's time for some viable alternates to step in. i don't want to see communists and nazis seated in congress, but i don't mind intelligent socialists or staunch conservatives; it seems to work fine in Canada.

Answer 6

While we only have two political parties, we have multiple factions and political groups, such as conservative Christians, peace activists, pro-lifers, gun control advocates, privacy advocates, civil rights groups, civil liberties advocates, etc. Some are formally organized, some are grass roots, and some are just sort of there, without any real structure.

The two political parties are constantly trying to recruit as many of these groups as possible, without alienating the other groups.

So, when you compare our "Two Party" system to toher countries, where there are multiple parties, I think its more accurate to compare our parties as permanent "Coalitions."

At least, I think so.

Answer 7

Keeping the people split between extremes weakens the population which makes it easier for the real controllers of our government to operate.

Answer 8

The Dems and Reps will tell you that a 3rd party splits the votes up too much, and hurts the 50+% winning factor. The truth, as per me, is THEY ARE DEATHLY AFFRAID OF LOOSING CONTROL OF THEIR SHARED MONOPOLY !!! Look at what happened to ROSS PEROIT !!! EVERY ONE WAS AFRAID OF HIS WINNING AND BUSTING UP, AND PREVENTING, ALL THIS CRAP WE NOW HAVE !!!!
Uncle Wil

Answer 9

Because we were created from a bipartisan system. We had Federalists and Anti-Federalists which turned into Democrats and Republicans.

Answer 10

Because there is not one or three?