US History/Third Parties

Third Parties of the United States

Though the United States government is overwhelmingly based on a two-party system, there have been times in history when minor third parties have rose to prominence and affected the government.

	Party	Presidential Candidates, if any	Number of Votes for candidate	Notes
1	Nullifier	1832 - John Floyd	1832 -               0	Although John Floyd did not run for president, the Nullifier Party supported him, and South Carolina gave its eleven electoral votes to him.
2	Anti-Masonic	1832 - William Wirt & Amos Ellmaker	1832 -    100,715	Ironically, Wirt was a former Mason Wirt received seven electoral votes from Vermont
3	Liberty	1840 - James G. Birney & Thomas Earle 1844 - James G. Birney & Thomas Morris 1848 - Gerrit Smith & Charles C. Foote 1852 - William Goodell & Samuel M. Bell 1856 - Gerrit Smith & 1860 - Gerrit Smith & Samuel McFarland	1840 -        6,797 1844 -      62,103 1848 -        2,545 1852 -         1856 -         1860 -
4	Free Soil	1848 - Martin Van Buren & Charles F. Adams 1852 - John P. Hale & George W. Julian	1848 -    291,501 1852 -    155,210	Martin Van Buren had previously been president, having formerly been elected as a Democrat. The derogatory term "spoiler" emerged after the 1848 election.  Democrats called the Free Soilers "Free Spoilers" because the Free Soil Party, which gained more than 10 percent of the vote, appealed so greatly to antislavery Democrats.
5	Prohibition	1872 - James Black & John Russell 1876 - Green Clay Smith & Gideon T. Stewart 1880 - Neal Dow & Henry A. Thompson 1884 - John Saint John & William Daniel 1888 - Clinton B. Fisk & John A. Brooks 1892 - John Bidwell & James B. Cranfill 1896 - Joshua Levering & Hale Johnson 1900 - John G. Woolley & Henry B. Metcalf 1904 - Silas C. Swallow & George W. Carroll 1908 - Eugene W. Chafin & Aaron S. Watkins 1912 - Eugene W. Chafin & Aaron S. Watkins 1916 - Frank Hanly & Ira Landrith 1920 - Aaron Watkins & D. Leigh Colvin 1924 - Herman P. Faris & Marie C. Brehm 1928 - William F. Varney & James A. Edgerton 1932 - William D. Upshaw & Frank S. Regan 1936 - D. Leigh Colvin & Claude A. Watson 1940 - Roger Babson & Edgar V. Moorman 1944 - Claude A. Watson & Andrew Johnson 1948 - Claude A. Watson & Dale H. Learn 1952 - Stuart Hamblen & Enoch A. Holtwick 1956 - Enoch A. Holtwick & Edwin M. Cooper 1960 - Rutherford Decker & E. Harold Munn 1964 - E. Harold Munn & Mark R. Shaw 1968 - E. Harold Munn & Rolland E. Fisher 1972 - E. Harold Munn & Marshall E. Uncapher 1976 - Benjamin C. Bubar & Earl F. Dodge 1980 - Benjamin C. Bubar & Earl F. Dodge 1984 - Earl Dodge & Warren C. Martin 1988 - Earl Dodge & George Ormsby 1992 - Earl Dodge & George Ormsby 1996 - Earl Dodge & Rachel Bubar Kelly 2000 - Earl Dodge & W. Dean Watkins 2004 - Earl Dodge & Howard Lydick, Gene Amondson & Leroy Pletten 2008 - Gene Amondson & Leroy Pletten 2012 - Jack Fellure & Toby Davis	1872 -        5,607 1876 -        6,945 1880 -      10,269 1884 -    147,482 1888 -    249,819 1892 -    270,879 1896 -    124,896 1900 -    210,864 1904 -    259,102 1908 -    254,087 1912 -    208,156 1916 -    221,302 1920 -    188,787 1924 -      55,951 1928 -      20,095 1932 -      81,905 1936 -      37,646 1940 -      57,903 1944 -      74,758 1948 -    103,708 1952 -      73,412 1956 -      41,937 1960 -      46,203 1964 -      23,267 1968 -      15,123 1972 -      13,497 1976 -      15,961 1980 -        7,212 1984 -        4,242 1988 -        8,002 1992 -           935 1996 -        1,298 2000 -           208 2004 - Amondson: 1,944, Dodge: 140 2008 -           643 2012 -           519	Although the Prohibition Party never obtained the presidency, its primary issue of prohibiting alcohol became the law of the land with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  The amendment went into effect on 17 January 1920. The nationwide prohibition of alcohol ended with the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on 5 December 1933, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment.
6	Libertarian	1972 - John Hospers & Tonie Nathan 1976 - Roger MacBride & David P. Bergland 1980 - Ed Clark & David H. Koch 1984 - David P. Bergland & James A. Lewis 1988 - Ron Paul & Andre Marrou 1992 - Andre Marrou & Nancy Lord 1996 - Harry Browne & Jo Jorgensen 2000 - Harry Browne & Art Olivier 2004 - Michael Badnarik & Richard V. Campagna 2008 - Bob Barr & Wayne Allyn Root 2012 - Gary Johnson & Jim Gray	1972 -        3,674 1976 -    172,553 1980 -    921,128 1984 -    228,111 1988 -    431,750 1992 -    290,087 1996 -    485,759 2000 -    384,431 2004 -    397,265 2008 -    523,715 2012 - 1,275,971	Hospers and Nathan each received one electoral vote, making Nathan the first female in American history to receive an electoral vote
7	Green	1996 - Ralph Nader & Winona LaDuke 2000 - Ralph Nader & Winona LaDuke 2004 - David Cobb & Pat LaMarche 2008 - Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente 2012 - Jill Stein & Cheri Honkala	2004 -    119,859 2008 -    161,680 2012 -    468,907
8	Workers World	Gloria La Riva Monica Moorehead
9	Socialist Workers	Farrell Dobbs Fred Halstead Linda Jenness Róger Calero