In recent years a growing number of citizens have defected from the major parties to third party presidential candidates. Over the past three decades, independent campaigns led by George Wallace, John Anderson, and Ross Perot have attracted more electoral support than at any time since the 1920s. Third Parties in America explains why and when the two-party system deteriorates and third parties flourish. Relying on data from presidential elections between 1840 and 1992, it identifies the situations in which Americans abandon the major parties and shows how third parties encourage major party responsiveness and broader representation of political interests.

Virtually all academic books on American third parties in the last half-century assume that they have largely disappeared. This book challenges that orthodoxy by explaining the (temporary) decline of third parties, demonstrating through the latest evidence that they are enjoying a resurgence, and arguing that they are likely to once again play a significant role in American politics. The book is based on a wealth of data, including district-level results from US House of Representatives elections, state-level election laws after the Civil War, and recent district-level election results from Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom.

This fascinating book looks at the select group of third parties that have made a real difference in U.S. politics and governance. Third parties have been a fixture in the American political landscape since the beginning of the two-party system. More than 300 of these groups have surfaced, but only a handful have made a real difference. Third-Party Matters: Politics, Presidents, and Third Parties in American History tells the intriguing stories of those 11 parties, starting with the antislavery Liberty Party of 1840. The parties deemed worthy of inclusion were selected because they met at least one of three criteria. They were spoilers who changed the outcome of an election, they had an important influence on government policy or the future of politics, and/or they had popular appeal, attracting at least ten percent of the vote. This investigation reveals the background behind each party's rise, what it stood for, who its leaders were—including larger-than-life personalities like Teddy Roosevelt, George Wallace, and Ross Perot—and the ultimate outcome of the election(s) in which the party participated.

Examines the participation of smaller, more specialized political parties in America's election process from the Tertium Quids of 1806 to today's Green Party.

"A significant contribution to our understanding of minor parties and party system change. The authors develop a new theory and provide strong empirical evidence in support of it. They show that the Perot's candidacy has had a strong and lasting impact on partisan competition in elections. ---Paul Herrnson, Director, Center for American Politics and Citizenship Professor, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland "Powerfully persuasive in its exhaustive research, Three's a Crowd may surprise many by revealing the long- ignored but pivotal impact of Perot voters on every national election since 1992." ---Clay Mulford, Jones Day and General Counsel to the 1992 Perot Presidential Campaign and to the Reform Party. "Rapaport and Stone have written an engaging and important book. They bring fresh perspectives, interesting data, and much good sense to this project. Three's a Crowd is fundamentally about political change, which will, in turn, change how scholars and pundits think of Ross Perot in particular, and third parties in general." ---John G. Geer, Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and Editor of The Journal of Politics "The definitive analysis of the Perot movement, its role in the 1994 GOP victory, and the emergence of an enduring governing majority." ---L. Sandy Maisel, Director, Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs, Colby College Three's a Crowd begins with the simple insight that third parties are creatures of the American two-party system, and derive their support from the failures of the Democratic and Republican parties. While third parties flash briefly in the gaps left by those failures, they nevertheless follow a familiar pattern: a sensation in one election, a disappointment in the next. Rapoport and Stone conclude that this steep arc results from one or both major parties successfully absorbing the third party's constituency. In the first election, the third party raises new issues and defines new constituencies; in the second, the major parties move in on the new territory. But in appropriating the third party's constituents, the major parties open themselves up to change. This is what the authors call the "dynamic of third parties." The Perot campaign exemplified this effect in 1992 and 1996. Political observers of contemporary electoral politics missed the significance of Perot's independent campaign for the presidency in 1992. Rapoport and Stone, who had unfettered-and unparalleled-access to the Perot political machine, show how his run perfectly embodies the third-party dynamic. Yet until now no one has considered the aftermath of the Perot movement through that lens. For anyone who seeks to understand the workings of our stubbornly two-party structure, this eagerly awaited and definitive analysis will shed new light on the role of third parties in the American political system.

This fascinating book looks at the select group of third parties that have made a real difference in U.S. politics and governance. Third parties have been a fixture in the American political landscape since the beginning of the two-party system. More than 300 of these groups have surfaced, but only a handful have made a real difference. Third-Party Matters: Politics, Presidents, and Third Parties in American History tells the intriguing stories of those 11 parties, starting with the antislavery Liberty Party of 1840. The parties deemed worthy of inclusion were selected because they met at least one of three criteria. They were spoilers who changed the outcome of an election, they had an important influence on government policy or the future of politics, and/or they had popular appeal, attracting at least ten percent of the vote. This investigation reveals the background behind each party's rise, what it stood for, who its leaders were—including larger-than-life personalities like Teddy Roosevelt, George Wallace, and Ross Perot—and the ultimate outcome of the election(s) in which the party participated.