You don’t have to be too cynical these days to think that American politics is a total joke. Both major parties are propping up geriatric candidates who won’t even engage primary competitors in debates. Democrats continue to push for far-left policies that seek to alienate as many people as possible, while Republicans focus on airing all their internal squabbles like a bunch of rednecks on a reality show.
It’s little wonder that an increasing number of people are just saying “screw it all” and yearning for an alternative. The idea of a third party has gone from, “Gosh, it would be nice if…” to, “Can we please?”
A new survey from Gallup shows just how pervasive the desire for a third party has become. A whopping 63% of those surveyed tell Gallup that they “agree with the statement that the Republican and Democratic parties do ‘such a poor job’ of representing the American people that ‘a third major party is needed.’”
For the record, that’s the highest percentage of third-party supporters of any time in the last 20 years. However, Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones notes that “the current measure is not meaningfully different from the prior highs of 61% in 2017 and 62% in 2021, shortly after the January 2021 Capitol Hill riots.” Tellingly, barely a third of those surveyed think that the two major parties are doing an “adequate job.”
When you break down the results by party, some interesting trends emerge. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans think a third party is a worthy option, up a dozen points from last year. The only time Republicans have been more interested in a third party was in January 2021, when 63% favored the idea. Democrats are increasingly enamored with the concept too, to the tune of 46% over last year’s 40%.
But the most fascinating jump in third-party desire comes from independents. Independent voters are most likely to favor a third party in general, but an astonishing three-fourths of independents told Gallup that they would be amenable to something outside the two-party options. Only in Sept. 2015 and Sept. 2017 was the percentage of independents who want a third party higher.
Related: Will 2024 Bring Forth a Competitive Third Party Candidate?
It’s all well and good to wish for and support the idea of a third-party option, but what kind of party would these people support in reality? The Green Party? Yeah, right. No Labels? Meh. RFK, Jr. is supposedly running, but don’t forget that he’s still a leftist no matter what common ground you might have with him on vaccines or “draining the swamp.”
The closest thing to an existing third party that could appeal to conservatives is the Libertarian Party, and we all know the Libertarians can’t put forth a viable presidential candidate. And don’t get me started on the Evan McMullin experiment in 2016 — aka “Conservatives’ Most Embarrassing Moment.”
I would hope that most voters of reasonable intelligence wouldn’t support a third party just for the sake of supporting a third party. And is there a third party that has broad enough appeal to capture enough people from the Democrats and the GOP? I have a hard time imagining one that would appeal to so broad a coalition. An imaginary third party is nice, but until the rubber meets the road, we can’t expect a third party to catch lightning in a bottle. But I suppose we can dream, can’t we?
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