On June 1, Rasmussen Polls released partial results of a poll conducted on May 30-31, which included the question, “Does the current election system discourage third party challengers?” 63% of likely voters said “Yes”, and only 24% said “No.” The other 13% were undecided.
The same poll asked “Who should pay for the primary elections used to select Republican and Democratic candidates for office – the government or the political parties?”. It also asked “In many states, nominees of the Republican and Democratic Parties automatically get on the ballot. However, third party candidates often need to conduct petition drives and get thousands of signatures to get on the ballot. If third party candidates need to submit signatures to get on the ballot, should Republicans and Democrats have to do the same?”
However, the results of the latter two questions are not public; one must be a Rasmussen subscriber to see those results. Thanks to Eric O’Keefe for this news.
What percentage of the public has read ANY Supreme Court opinions on ANY subject ??? — esp. ballot access and gerrymander cases.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
Without RADICAL reform of campaign finance laws, which will never happen, 63% of voters will forever be…um, correct.
On this matter, anyway.
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#2
There are very rich guys (prominent examples are Peter Thiel and Ron Unz) who are openly and strongly opposed to the fake two-party system. The main problem is the archaic first-past-the post system used almost everywhere in the US. A few places in the US have two-round runoffs, but the the media and public seem to have internalized the logic of plurality and act as if there were no difference between the two systems.
Of course low threshold PR provides the best environment for the development of viable new parties.
4 –
Sorry, but I think your contention is stunningly naive. However the votes are counted, third parties will ALWAYS be third parties and competing for a “place” showing at best in this system, which abets the purchase of political office by one of only two parties and their well-heeled supporters.