The Increase in Third Party Voters, Why it Happened, and What That Means

For the past four elections, there have been an astonishing increase in popular support for a third party. The 2004 election saw about a 1% portion of the pie for those who voted for someone other than Bush or Kerry; the 2008 election saw about 1.4%; in 2012, there were 1.7%. This seems like a steady and slow progression until 2016, when we saw 4.4% of voters who favored a third party, mainly the Libertarian and Green Party. This was enough to significantly skew the election. What happened?

Most of the evidence points to a general disdain for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. With the peaking popularity of heavily opinionated social media platforms such as Twitter, all eyes seemed to be on them. Before the election, you couldn’t scroll two centimeters without seeing a reference to the incompetence of one or both of the main candidates. At the end of the day, Donald Trump was too vulgar for conservative Republicans, and Hillary Clinton wasn’t progressive enough for liberal Democrats.

On the other hand, there also were a large amount of third-party votes done in jest. Votes for “Deez Nuts” and Harambe may have been a humorous joke in passing, but in Texas, both tied or even surpassed the amount of votes Jill Stein received. This means the increasing severity of practical jokes in 2016 can also be blamed for the large amount of third party votes. Challenges and extreme pranks were, at this time, in their prime.

With the polarizing environment of modern media and a higher amount of uncomfortable disdain for politics in general, it is harder and harder to socially stay on the fence. Maybe people voted for Harambe out of some sort of rebellion toward the “With us or against us” mentality people are forced into in the world of modern politics. Maybe it was because a large amount of people are irresponsible and jump at the chance to become a part of a meme. Maybe it was both. It can be difficult to tell in today’s world. Either way, what we do know is that the amount of third party candidates and the minimal amount of votes dispersed among them equally was disastrous for anyone seeking to support a party other than the Republican or Democratic one.

Is voting for a third party in the upcoming election throwing away your vote? The last time a third party president won even a minimum of one state was in 1968, and the last time a single third party candidate even won more than 5% of the popular vote was in the 90s. So it seems unlikely, but of course, recent elections have been a series of firsts for American History- our first black president was followed immediately by our first female candidate nominated by a major party.

It would be the perfect timing for a third party president, considering the rising amount of people subscribing to a variety of political beliefs. Many people have opted for this to avoid the pressure of picking one seemingly extreme side and polarizing themselves. Not to mention, the “lesser of two evils” mentality doesn’t seem to work for most Americans as of recently. Maybe choosing the best of myriad candidates will become the newest way of thinking.

There would be no surprise if the public’s votes differed in the 2020 election. Not many people are happy with the current president, but those same people wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, either. This could introduce a third-party president- it would all just be a matter of how well a campaign for one would work.

Just one tip for third-party voters: don’t vote for Harambe this time.