Third Parties and theories of party decline and renewal

Third Parties 

• Ross Perot in 1992 gaining 9% of the vote, clear impact on the election 
• However he got no electoral college votes, clearly a failure 
• The green party does force issues, Democrats becoming more environmentally friendly after greens gaining 2.7% of the vote in 2000
• However in the 2000 election it was still Bush v Gore, no real impact from the greens 
• Third parties can also split the vote of certain parties, Nader in 2000 taking away votes from Gore 
• However never really get enough to properly influence, vote never exceeding 3.6% from 2008 to 2016 
• Third parties can also provide a legitimate alternative to other…