The Founding Fathers of this nation never intended the existence of political parties, nor the two-party system we know today. Third-party candidates tend to receive little to no media attention, and often receive less than 10 percent of the vote. But, in the unprecedented election are people willing to vote third-party?
If you listen to those around you discuss this Presidential election cycle, many will say they cannot support either candidate. So that leads to the question, will this be the year where we see a rise in third-party support?
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Emily Thomas stated: "Third-party candidates have become popular this election because, obviously, we have some extremely unpopular candidates. But, I think third-parties represent that compromise that we could come to if we stopped being so divisive and bitter toward each other."
When asked whether or not she plans on voting third-party this election she stated, "I would consider voting for a third-party in the future, but definitely not for this election; there's way too much at stake."
This belief was echoed by another student, Hunter Rabinowitz stated: “However until our nation is on the verge of imploding due to follies from both parties, I will be voting on the diverse platform of the major Democratic Party and consider the Republican platform seriously, whether it be adversarial or uniting."
Another concern of the students is that they do not have faith that a third-party candidate will receive enough votes. Naomi Charles stated: “I would vote third-party if I knew the third-party candidate had a better chance of winning. If more people knew about other parties besides Democrat and Republican maybe there wouldn't be this problem."
While another sentiment mentioned was that third-party candidates do not represent those people who do not identify with the two major political parties. Michael Kohen stated: “I don't think it's throwing away your vote. I just think the third-parties haven't done a good job at picking candidates that represent more people. We are such a polarized country and the third-party often doesn't represent the mid ground people are looking for."
Although many do not plan on voting third-party this election, many still have faith for the future of third-party candidates. Hunter Rabinowitz stated “The current third-party candidates unfairly squelch the diversity of ideas that appear upon the respective party platforms. That being said, the last time a third-party candidate won an election we got perhaps our most universally iconic president out of it, so I will not turn my nose up at all third-party choices."
The current third-party candidates may not evoke immense public support, but growing millennial political involvement may become beneficial in the future. Third-parties need to find the right candidates for the middle ground of voters.
