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OnTheIssues.org - Candidates on the Issues

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Tired of media reports of fundraising and poll results instead of policy issues? At OnTheIssues.org, you can see the view of every candidates on every issue.

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We receive over a million unique answers (and filter out multiple submissions) to our political issues survey per day and categorize the submissions by political affiliation, state, city, and referral website, as well as census data estimates by income, race, education, and household. Choose an issue below to start exploring.

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See a list of polls for the most popular political polls of 2023

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Compiled by the Editors. Copyright 2005 (revised 2010) StudentNewsDaily.com. We all want the same things in life. We want freedom; we want the chance for prosperity; we want as few people suffering as possible; we want healthy children; we want to have crime-free streets. The argument is how to achieve them...

Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all. It is the duty of the government to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems.

Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.

Related comparison page: Socialism vs. Capitalism

And check out our page: 2019 General Election Resources for teachers.
NOTE: The terms "left" and "right" define opposite ends of the political spectrum. In the United States, liberals are referred to as the left or left-wing and conservatives are referred to as the right or right-wing. On the U.S. political map, blue represents the Democratic Party (which generally upholds liberal principles) and red represents the Republican party (which generally upholds conservative principles).
Abortion

Liberal
A woman has the right to decide what happens with her body. A fetus is not a human life, so it does not have separate individual rights. The government should provide taxpayer funded abortions for women who cannot afford them. The decision to have an abortion is a personal choice of a woman regarding her own body and the government must protect this right. Women have the right to affordable, safe and legal abortions, including partial birth abortion.

( Conservative
Human life begins at conception. Abortion is the murder of a human being. An unborn baby, as a living human being, has separate rights from those of the mother. Oppose taxpayer-funded abortion. Taxpayer dollars should not be used for the government to provide abortions. Support legislation to prohibit partial birth abortions, called the "Partial Birth Abortion* Ban"*Partial Birth Abortion: the killing of an unborn baby of at least 20 weeks by pulling it out of the birth canal with forceps, but leaving the head inside. An incision is made in the back of the baby's neck and the brain tissue is suctioned out. The head is then removed from the uterus.)

Affirmative Action

Death Penalty

Economy

Education - vouchers & charter schools

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Support the use of embryonic stem cells for research. It is necessary (and ethical) for the government to fund embryonic stem cell research, which will assist scientists in finding treatments and cures for diseases. An embryo is not a human. The tiny blastocyst (embryos used in embryonic stem cell research) has no human features. Experimenting on embryos/embryonic stem cells is not murder. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to cure chronic and degenerative diseases which current medicine has been unable to effectively treat. Embryonic stem cells have been shown to be effective in treating heart damage in mice.

Conservative
Support the use of adult and umbilical cord stem cells only for research. It is morally and ethically wrong for the government to fund embryonic stem cell research. Human life begins at conception. The extraction of stem cells from an embryo requires its destruction. In other words, it requires that a human life be killed. Adult stem cells have already been used to treat spinal cord injuries, Leukemia, and even Parkinson's disease. Adult stem cells are derived from umbilical cords, placentas, amniotic fluid, various tissues and organ systems like skin and the liver, and even fat obtained from liposuction. Embryonic stem cells have not been successfully used to help cure disease.

Energy

Euthanasia & Physician-assisted suicide

Global Warming/Climate Change

Gun Control
Full text of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Healthcare

Homeland Security

Liberal
Airport security - Passenger profiling is wrong, period. Selection of passengers for extra security screening should be random. Using other criteria (such as ethnicity) is discriminatory and offensive to Arabs and Muslims, who are generally innocent and law-abiding. Terrorists don't fit a profile.
"...Arabs, Muslims and South Asians are no more likely than whites to be terrorists." (American Civil Liberties Union ACLU)
Asked on 60 Minutes if a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach should receive the same level of scrutiny as a Muslim from Jersey City, President Obama's Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said, "Basically, I would hope so."

Conservative
Airport security - Choosing passengers randomly for extra security searches is not effective. Rather, profiling and intelligence data should be used to single out passengers for extra screening. Those who do not meet the criteria for suspicion should not be subjected to intense screening. The terrorists currently posing a threat to the U.S. are primarily Islamic/Muslim men between the ages of 18 and 38. Our resources should be focused on this group. Profiling is good logical police work.
"If people are offended (by profiling), that's unfortunate, but I don't think we can afford to take the risk that terrorism brings to us. They've wasted masses of resources on far too many people doing things that really don't have a big payoff in terms of security." - Northwestern University Aviation Expert, A.Gellman.

Immigration

Support legal immigration. Support amnesty for those who enter the U.S. illegally (undocumented immigrants). Also believe that undocumented immigrants have a right to:
- all educational and health benefits that citizens receive (financial aid, welfare, social security and medicaid), regardless of legal status.
- the same rights as American citizens. It is unfair to arrest millions of undocumented immigrants.

Conservative
Support legal immigration only. Oppose amnesty for those who enter the U.S. illegally (illegal immigrants). Those who break the law by entering the U.S. illegally do not have the same rights as those who obey the law and enter legally. The borders should be secured before addressing the problem of the illegal immigrants currently in the country. The Federal Government should secure the borders and enforce current immigration law.

Private Property

Religion & Government

Liberal
Support the separation of church and state. The Bill of Rights implies a separation of church and state. Religious expression has no place in government. The two should be completely separate. Government should not support religious expression in any way. All reference to God in public and government spaces should be removed (eg., the Ten Commandments should not be displayed in Federal buildings). Religious expression has no place in government.

Conservative
The phrase "separation of church and state" is not in the Constitution. The First Amendment to the Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." This prevents the government from establishing a national church/denomination. However, it does not prohibit God from being acknowledged in schools and government buildings. Symbols of Christian heritage should not be removed from public and government spaces (eg., the Ten Commandments should continue to be displayed in Federal buildings). Government should not interfere with religion and religious freedom.

Same-sex Marriage

Liberal
Marriage is the union of people who love each other. It should be legal for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, to ensure equal rights for all. Support same-sex marriage. Opposed to the creation of a constitutional amendment establishing marriage as the union of one man and one woman. All individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, have the right to marry. Prohibiting same-sex citizens from marrying denies them their civil rights. [Opinions vary on whether this issue is equal to civil rights for African Americans.]

Conservative
Marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Oppose same-sex marriage.
Support Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed in 1996, which affirms the right of states not to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states.
Requiring citizens to sanction same-sex relationships violates moral and religious beliefs of millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims and others, who believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Social Security

Taxes

United Nations (UN)

War on Terror/Terrorism

Welfare

Compiled by the Editors. Copyright 2005, (revised 2010) StudentNewsDaily.com.

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Liberals believe in government action...Conservatives believe in limited government.

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Kids explains the differences between Republicans and Democrats | Daily Mail Online

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'The week junior' kids explains the differences between Republicans and Democrats

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PHILADELPHIA -- It's hard to say you don't have a clear choice this presidential election year.

The Democratic and Republican platforms show views of world 180 degrees apart.

The Democrats' statement of principles encompassed many of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' views, giving him a victory even as he lost the presidential nomination to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Republican platform shifted to the right of its nominee, businessman Donald Trump, amid concern that he wasn't conservative enough.

At 55 pages, the Democratic document is 11 pages shorter than the GOP platform and mentioned Trump 29 times compared with just one of Clinton in the Republican document.
10 surprises in GOP platform
Here are 10 huge differences in the party platforms:
1. ABORTION
Democrats: "We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion."

Republicans: Abortion should be illegal in all cases and the Constitution should ve amended to ban the procedure.

"We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed," the platform said.

The GOP argued that supporting the constitutional right to abortion was the "extreme" position.
2. SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Democrats: Applauded the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

Republicans: Condemned the court decision.

"Five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman," the platform said.
3. IMMIGRATION
Democrats: Called for fixing the "broken immigration system," including a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Republicans: Embraced Trump's call for a wall along the U.S-Mexican border though was silent on whether to back their nominee's demand to deport all 11 million.
4. CLIMATE CHANGE
Democrats: "Climate change poses a real and urgent threat to our economy, our national security, and our children's health and futures."

Republicans: Cast doubts on whether the climate is changing, rejecting the findings of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as "a political mechanism, not an unbiased scientific institution" with "intolerance toward scientists and others who dissent from its orthodoxy."
5. MEDICARE
Democrats: They would not only would "fight any attempts by Republicans in Congress to privatize, voucherize, or 'phase out' Medicare," but would allow Americans older than 55 to enroll.

Republicans: They would end the health care program for the elderly as we know it, requiring seniors to either enroll in a private insurance plan or face limits on how much the government will pay.
6. WALL STREET
Democrats: The party promised to "vigorously implement, enforce, and build on" banking regulations enacted to curb risky practices by financial institutions and "will stop dead in its tracks every Republican effort to weaken it."

Republicans: Blamed the Great Recession on "the government's own housing policies," not Wall Street actions and called the banking regulations "an excuse to establish unprecedented government control over the nation's financial markets."

7. IRAN

Democrats: President Barack Obama's agreement to relax economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program "verifiably cuts off all of Iran's pathways to a bomb without resorting to war."

Republicans: The deal "gravely threatens our security, our interests, and the survival of our friends." The Republican platform called it "a personal agreement between the president and his negotiating partners and non-binding on the next president."
8. ISRAEL
Democrats: The platform backed a "secure and democratic Jewish state" of Israel and a chance for Palestinians to "govern themselves in their own viable state, in peace and dignity."

Republicans: While both parties support Israel, the Republicans said nothing about the two-state solution that has been the bipartisan cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for decades.
9. MONEY IN POLITICS
Democrats: They want to overturn the Citizens United decision, which eased restrictions on corporate and union campaign spending.

"We need to end secret, unaccountable money in politics by requiring, through executive order or legislation, significantly more disclosure and transparency -- by outside groups, federal contractors, and public corporations to their shareholders," the platform said.

Republicans: "I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves," Trump said in accepting the Republican presidential nomination.

The GOP platform would make things much easier for the powerful. It would repeal or raise contribution limits and allow outside groups spending millions on campaigns to hide their donors.
10. VOTING RIGHTS
Democrats: The party said it would fight laws requiring certain forms of voter identification "to preserve the fundamental right to vote."

A leader of the 1963 landmark Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), helped nominate Clinton for president on Tuesday.

Republicans: The GOP platform endorsed state efforts to impose voter identification requirements that the U.S. Justice Department and several federal and state courts have said discriminate against minority and poor voters. The platform called Justice's actions "bullying."

Cases of in-person voter fraud, which such voter-ID laws are supposed to prevent, are "nearly non-existent," according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook

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10 huge differences between Democratic and Republican platforms

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PHILADELPHIA -- It's hard to say you don't have a clear choice this presidential election year. The Democratic and Republican platforms show views of world 180 degrees apart. The Democrats' statement of principles encompassed many of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' views, giving him a victory even as he lost the presidential nomination to former U.S.

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Democrat vs. Republican

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History of the Democratic and Republican parties

The Republican Party today supports a pro-business platform, with foundations in economic libertarianism, and fiscal and social conservatism.

Differences in Philosophy

Republican philosophy leans more towards individual freedoms, rights and responsibilities. In contrast, Democrats attach greater importance to equality and social/community responsibility.

While there may be several differences in opinion between individual Democrats and Republicans on certain issues, what follows is a generalization of their stand on several of these issues.

Role of Government

One of the fundamental differences between Democratic and Republican party ideals is around the role of government. Democrats tend to favor a more active role for government in society and believe that such involvement can improve the quality of people's lives and help achieve the larger goals of opportunity and equality. On the other hand, Republicans tend to favor a small government - both in terms of the number of people employed by the government and in terms of the roles and responsibilities of government in society. They see "big government" as wasteful and an obstacle to getting things done. Their approach is Darwinian capitalism in that strong businesses should survive in a free market rather than the government influencing-through regulation-who wins or loses in business.

For example, Democrats tend to favor environmental regulations and anti-discrimination laws for employment. Republicans tend to consider such regulations harmful to business and job growth because most laws have unintended consequences. Indeed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a government agency that many Republican presidential candidates love to deride as an example of "useless" government agencies that they would shut down.

Another example is the food stamps program. Republicans in Congress were demanding cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP), while Democrats wanted to expand this program. Democrats argued that with the unemployment rate high, many families needed the assistance provided by the program. Republicans argued that there was a lot of fraud in the program, which is wasting taxpayer dollars. Republicans also favor more individual responsibility, so they would like to institute rules that force beneficiaries of welfare programs to take more personal responsibility through measures like mandatory drug testing, and looking for a job.

Democratic vs Republican stand on controversial issues

The Democrats and Republicans have varying ideas on many hot button issues, some of which are listed below. These are broadly generalized opinions; it must be noted that there are many politicians in each party who have different and more nuanced positions on these issues.

Military

Republicans: Prefer increasing military spending and have a more hard line stance against countries like Iran, with a higher tendency to deploy the military option.

Democrats: Prefer lower increases in military spending and are comparatively more reluctant to using military force against countries like Iran, Syria and Libya.

Gun control laws

Abortion

Democrats support abortion rights and keeping elective abortions legal. Republicans believe abortions should not be legal and that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Some Republicans go so far as to oppose the contraception mandate i.e. requiring employer-paid health insurance plans to cover contraception.

A related point of divergence is embryonic stem cell research - Democrats support it while Republicans do not.

LGBTQ rights

Democrats tend to favor equal rights for gay and lesbian couples e.g. the right to get married and adopt children. Republicans believe that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman so they do not support gay marriage, nor allowing gay couples to adopt children.

Democrats are also more supportive of rights for transgender people; for example, within about a month of taking office, Republican President Donald Trump rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity.

Now that gay marriage is legal nationwide, the battleground has shifted to related issues like transgender rights and anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people. For example, Democrats favor laws barring businesses from refusing to serve gay customers.

Death Penalty

The majority opinion in America about the death penalty is that it should be legal. However, many Democrats are opposed to it and the 2016 Democratic Party platform called for abolishing the death penalty.

Taxes

Democrats support progressive taxes. A progressive tax system is one where high-income individuals pay taxes at a higher rate. This is the how federal income tax brackets are currently set up. For example, the first $10,000 in income is taxed at 10% but marginal income over $420,000 is taxed at 39.6%.

Republicans support tax cuts for everyone (rich and poor alike). They believe that a smaller government would need less revenue from taxes to sustain itself. Some Republicans are proponents of a "flat tax" where all people pay the same percentage of their income in taxes regardless of income level. They consider higher tax rates on the rich a form of class warfare.

Related: A comparison of Donald Trump and Joe Biden's Tax Policies

Minimum Wage

Democrats favor increasing the minimum wage, including a setting a federal limit so that it also applies in so-called red states. Most Democratic proposals today are to raise it from the current $7.25 an hour to $15. They argue that minimum wage should be high enough that someone working a full-time minimum wage job should not be below the poverty line.

Republicans argue that raising the minimum wage hurts businesses, which makes them hire fewer workers, slowing down the economy for everyone. They also argue that since cost of living is different in each state, minimum wage laws should take that into account rather than mandating a $15 wage nationally (which they argue is too high for some states).

Foreign Policy

U.S. foreign policy has traditionally been relatively consistent between Democratic and Republican administrations. Key allies have always been other Western powers like the UK, France. Allies in the middle east were-and continue to remain-countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Nevertheless, some differences can be seen based on the Obama administration's handling of relations with certain countries. For example, Israel and the U.S. have always been strong allies. But relations between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been tense. A major contributor to this tension has been the Obama administration's Iran policy. The U.S. tightened sanctions on Iran in Obama's first term, but negotiated a deal in the second term that allowed international inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities. The U.S. and Iran also found common ground against the threat from ISIS. This rapprochement has irked Iran's traditional rival Israel, even though for all practical purposes Israel and the U.S. remain staunch allies. Republicans in Congress opposed the Iran deal and the easing of sanctions against Iran. They also invited Netanyahu to deliver a speech against the deal.

Another country where the Democratic Obama administration reversed decades of U.S. policy is Cuba. Republican Rand Paul supported the unfreezing of relations with Cuba but his opinion is not shared by a majority of Republicans.[3]. Republicans like presidential contenders Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have publicly opposed the normalization of relations with Cuba. [4][5]

Immigration

Politicians from both parties are often heard saying that "The immigration system in this country is broken." However, the political divide has been too wide to let any bipartisan legislation pass to "fix" the system with "comprehensive immigration reform."

Undocumented immigrants

In general the Democratic Party is considered more sympathetic to the immigrant cause. There is widespread support among Democrats for the DREAM Act which grants conditional residency (and permanent residency upon meeting further qualifications) to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were minors. The bill never passed but the (Democratic) Obama administration did issue some protections for certain qualified undocumented immigrants.

Deportations

Both Democratic and Republican administrations have used and favored deportations. More undocumented immigrants were deported under President Obama than any president before him. Deportations have continued, if not accelerated, under President Trump.

Legal immigration

Republicans favor legal immigration to be "merit-based" or "point-based". Such systems are used by countries like Canada and Australia to allow lawful entry visas to individuals with in-demand skills who can contribute to the economy. The flip side of such a system is that not enough visas may be available for family-based immigration. A merit-based system is also the opposite of the "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." philosophy.

Civil Rights

Abraham Lincoln belonged to the Republican Party, so the roots of the party lie in individual freedom and the abolition of slavery. Indeed, 82% of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while only 69% of Democrats did. The Southern wing of the Democratic party was vehemently opposed to civil rights legislation.

However, after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, there was a sort of role reversal. Todd Purdum, author of An Idea Whose Time Has Come, a book about the legislative maneuvering behind the passage of the Civil Rights Act, says this in an interview with NPR:

SIEGEL: How much of the Republican Party in Congress supported the civil rights bill as it still was? And how many voted for cloture to break the filibuster?

PURDUM: Well, the final vote in the Senate for the bill was 73 to 27, with 27 out of 33 Republican votes. So in proportional terms, the Republicans supported this bill much more than the Democrats did in both houses.

SIEGEL: A few weeks after Lyndon Johnson signed that bill into law, as we heard at the beginning, the Republicans go and they nominate Barry Goldwater for president, a Republican who had voted against civil rights. And their legacy is jettisoned at that moment.

PURDUM: In some important way that was the beginning of changing the Republican Party from the party of Lincoln into the party of white backlash which is, frankly, reputation that in the South particularly endures to this day, and has hurt the Republican Party as a national brand in presidential elections.

Republicans believe that Purdum's point of view is misleading because Goldwater supported previous attempts at passing a Civil Rights act, and desegregation, but did not like the 1964 Act because he felt it infringed on states' rights.

Voter ID laws

Civil liberties groups like the ACLU criticize the GOP for pushing for voter ID laws - Republicans believe these laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud while Democrats claim that voter fraud is virtually non-existent and that these laws disenfranchise black and Hispanic voters who tend to be poorer and unable to obtain ID cards.

Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement is a mostly Democratic priority while Republicans have expressed more concern about the shootings of police officers. The 2016 Republican convention featured people killed at the hands of undocumented immigrants, as well as a sheriff proclaiming "blue lives matter." The Democratic convention, on the other hand, provided a forum for testimonials from the mothers of black men and women killed in confrontations with police.

Logos of the Democratic and Republican parties

Red states and Blue states list

Due to the TV coverage during some of the presidential elections in the past, the color Red has become associated with the Republicans (as in Red states - the states where the Republican presidential nominee wins) and Blue is associated with the Democrats.

Since 1980, geographically the Republican "base" ("red states") is strongest in the South and West, and weakest in the Northeast and the Pacific Coast. The Republican Party's strongest focus of political influence lies in the Great Plains states, particularly Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, and in the western states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah.

Red states outnumber blue states

In February 2016, Gallup reported that for the first time since Gallup started tracking, red states now outnumber blue states.

In 2008, 35 states leaned Democratic and this number is down to only 14 now. In the same time, the number of Republican leaning states rose from 5 to 20. Gallup determined 16 states to be competitive, i.e., they leaned toward neither party. Wyoming, Idaho and Utah were the most Republican states, while states that leaned the most Democratic were Vermont, Hawaii and Rhode Island.

Famous Republican vs Democratic Presidents

Republicans have controlled the White House for 28 of the last 43 years since Richard Nixon became president. Famous Democrat Presidents have been Franklin Roosevelt, who pioneered the New Deal in America and stood for 4 terms, John F. Kennedy, who presided over the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis, and was assassinated in Office; Bill Clinton, who was impeached by the House of Representatives; and Nobel Peace Prize winners Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter.

To compare the two parties' presidential candidates in the 2020 elections, see Donald Trump vs Joe Biden.

Control of the White House

This graphic shows which party controlled the White House since 1901. You can find the list of Presidents on Wikipedia.

Republican vs Democratic Demographics

Interesting data about how support for each party broke down by race, geography and the urban-rural divide during the 2018 mid-term elections are presented in charts here.

The Pew Research Group, among others, regularly surveys American citizens to determine party affiliation or support for various demographic groups. Some of their latest results are below.

Partisan Advantages by Age

In general, support for the Democratic party is stronger among younger voters. As the demographic gets older, support for the Republican party rises.

By Gender

In general, women lean Democratic while support among men is roughly evenly split between the two parties.

By Race

By Level of Education

Support for the two parties also varies by level of education; support for the Democratic party is stronger among college graduates and also among people who have a high school diploma or less.

References

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What is the difference between Democrats and Republicans? This nonpartisan comparison compares and contrasts the policies and political positions of the Democratic and Republican parties on major issues such as taxes, the role of government, entitlements (Social Security, Medicare), gun control, immigration, healthcare and civil rights.

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Political Parties: Crash Course Government and Politics #40

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Party Systems: Crash Course Government and Politics #41

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How Did The U.S. End Up With A Two-Party System?

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How Are U.S. Voter Demographics Changing? http://www.seeker.com/us-voter-demographics-are-changing-1945112291.html Subscribe! http://bitly.com/1iLOHml Democrats and Republicans dominate the American political system, leaving third parties behind. So why is there a two party system? Learn More: Britannica: Two-Party System https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-party-system PBS: Two-Party System http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/unreasonableman/twoparty.html CNN: Washington (George) got it right http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/opinion/alexander-washington-george/ Music Track Courtesy of APM Music: Subscribe to Seeker Daily!

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Take is this quiz to see which party you align with.

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Political Ideology Survey

Which political party do you belong to?

Many factors contribute to a person's choice of political party. Research indicates that the strongest factors are family and community influences. The platforms and positions of the two major parties can also have an influence, but these can change and evolve over time. For that reason, it is helpful to examine contemporary issues to be sure that your party preference matches your political ideology , or personal beliefs about government.

Take the survey below to help you determine your political party preference. You must take this survey before moving forward.

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Which political party do you belong to? Many factors contribute to a person's choice of political party. Research indicates that the strongest factors are family and community influences. The platforms and positions of the two major parties can also have an influence, but these can change and evolve over time.

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But, despite an active political presence, only two parties - the Democrats and Republicans - dominate the modern American political process, between them fielding all of the candidates that have become president since the mid-1800s.

Why, in a democracy, do only two parties dominate? What of the 52 other parties, many of which have contributed ideas and policies that have become mainstays of American political life and law? The answer, according to historians and scholars, is the political process that has relegated third parties to the sidelines and the nature of the parties themselves.

The Green Party, Reform Party, Libertarians, Constitution Party and Natural Law Party represent the most active third parties currently in the United States. All of these parties have fielded presidential candidates in the last several elections.

Ralph Nader, an independent candidate in the 2004 presidential race, made his name as a consumer advocate and as the two-time presidential nominee of the Green Party. As the Green Party candidate in 2000, he gained more than 2 million votes, coming in third behind Al Gore and George W. Bush. But controversy marred the Green Party accomplishment. Democrats blamed Nader for causing Gore's defeat by siphoning off votes simply by his presence in the race.

The Green Party platform centers largely on the environment, while Libertarians, which make up the third largest political party in the country and the oldest of the third parties, believe in a reduced role of the government. They maintain that the government should serve only as a form of protection for citizens. Although no Libertarian Party candidate has ever become president, several of its members hold elected office in state and local government.

The American Taxpayers Party, which changed its name to the Constitution Party in 2000, advocates a strict interpretation of the Constitution and more power for states and localities. Its most popular candidate Howard Phillips ran for office in 1992 but received less than 1 percent of the vote.
Third Parties Success & Influence
The most successful of the third parties in any one election was the Reform Party, which in 1992 nominated Texas billionaire Ross Perot as its candidate for president. Perot ran on a platform that advocated reducing the federal budget deficit, an issue previously ignored in elections but one that would become a major part of almost every presidential campaign since. Perot received 19 percent of the vote.

"[H]e was the first candidate really in a big way to float the idea that the deficit was a bad thing," said historian Michael Beschloss. "By the time Bill Clinton was elected that fall, if he had not done something about the deficit he would have been in big trouble and that was largely Ross Perot's doing."

Third parties have had a major influence on U.S. policy and political debate despite their minor presence in Congress - currently only one U.S. senator and one member of the House of Representatives is an independent.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Socialists popularized the women's suffrage movement. They advocated for child labor laws in 1904 and, along with the Populist Party, introduced the notion of a 40-hour work week, which led to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

"What happens is third parties act as a gadfly," said Sean Wilentz, director of the American Studies program at Princeton University. "There'll be an issue that's being neglected or that is being purposely excluded from national debate because neither party wants to face the political criticism that it would bring. A classic example was slavery."

"It's a kind of bitter sweetness," he added. "[Third parties] are the ones that raise the issues that no one wants to raise and in the process they change the political debate and even policy, but they themselves as a political force, they disappear."
Obstacles Third Parties Face
In fact, American voters have not elected a third party president since Abraham Lincoln when the then-minority Republican Party beat the Whigs and the Democrats in 1860 on the anti-slavery platform. Voters often worry that a vote for a third party candidate is "wasted" since he or she is unlikely to win.

Also, according to Beschloss, third parties often organize around a single personality or a single issue and that can lead to less popularity among voters.

Perhaps the most significant of the obstacles facing third party candidates is the winner-take-all system. In most states, the presidential candidate with the highest percentage of votes gets all the state's electoral votes.

"There's no reward for second place," said John F. Bibby, University of Wisconsin professor and co-author of the book, "Two Parties - Or More? The American Party System". "With a single elected president if you're going to have a chance to win the states, which are all awarded on a winner-take-all basis, again you don't have a chance. The incentive is to form broad-based parties that have a chance to win in the Electoral College.

In his book, Bibby and co-author L. Sandy Maisel point to Ross Perot in 1992, who had widespread appeal but not enough to win a state completely.

Third party candidates also are at a disadvantage because of federal campaign finance laws, rules that dictate who can enter presidential debates, and a lack of media attention.

"It's very difficult for third parties to get media coverage," Bibby said. "In Nader's last run, the questions they asked him "Why are you running?" (came) all the time, not about the substance of his campaign."

In addition, a significant amount of paperwork is required to become a viable candidate. When Ralph Nader announced in February 2004 that he would seek the presidential nomination, he was required to collect 1.5 million signatures in all states to appear on the ballot. Deadlines for those signatures begin as early as May 2004.

Campaign finance rules say that a political party can only get government funding to run a race if it received a certain percentage of votes from the previous election. Often this leaves third party candidates to fund their own campaigns. With less media coverage, the candidates are left to find other means of exposure to raise the millions of dollars it takes to run a successful campaign.

Political analyst and comedian Bill Maher expressed disbelief that Americans would willingly accept only two choices for president. "It's silly," he said, "that a country that prides itself on choice allows only two."

Others argue that the two-party system is one that promotes stability by avoiding a more divided government.

"The U.S. Constitution was written long before parties came into being. The framers distrusted parties," Sean Wilentz said. "But once parties did emerge, the system that the framers set up tended to encourage coalitions that fight it out and those coalitions tend to be two in number."

The Democrats and the Republicans, according to Wilentz, over the decades have come to represent two basic and contrasting ideas about how politics and policy should be run.

"[The Republicans] are very much a conservative party and the Democrats are very much a liberal party, and I think that they stand because more and more they have come to represent those two points of view," he said.

Bibby agrees. "It's the nature of American society and the beliefs of Americans in that we have relatively few on the extreme," he said. "Most Americans are relatively moderate and they can operate comfortably within a system where one party is slightly to the right and the other slightly to the left. They don't see any great need for an alternative.

In either case, this year's presidential election promises to continue the trend. Analysts favor the Republican or Democratic Party to win, and of the 81 other candidates hoping to enter the race, the public will probably only know the name of a very select few.

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Third Parties in the U.S. Political Process

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But, despite an active political presence, only two parties - the Democrats and Republicans - dominate the modern American political process, between them fielding all of the candidates that have become president since the mid-1800s. Why, in a democracy, do only two parties dominate?

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Third Parties Explained: US History Review

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Political Issues

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We receive over a million unique answers (and filter out multiple submissions) to our political issues survey per day and categorize the submissions by political affiliation, state, city, and referral website, as well as census data estimates by income, race, education, and household. Choose an issue below to start exploring.

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See a list of polls for the most popular political polls of 2023

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Third parties have an interesting history in American politics. Historically, every major party started out as some sort of underdog and rose to the top of the heap. Today, we have more choices than ever when we go to the ballot box, which brings up the question: which third party fits you best?

Well, if you want to vote for a winning candidate, probably none of them. But their success in running their own candidates doesn't make them less interesting - and it certainly doesn't keep them from having major effects on national elections, as the election of George W. Bush in 2000 (and arguably, the election of Bill Clinton in 1992) taught us all.

Here are some of America's favorite, best, and weirdest third parties that you can join today.

10. America First Party

The history of the America First Party is tied to the history of the Reform Party. Begun in 2002 by a group of people who supported Pat Buchanan's run for the President in 2000 on the Reform Party ticket, the America First Party represents a platform of fairly typical hard-right values, both economically and socially, while also espousing a far more isolationist tone than other conservative parties like the Republicans.

They support smaller government, tax cuts, gun rights, energy independence, and American sovereignty. They're pro-life, believe America has and should maintain Christian roots in the public square, and basically oppose progressiveness on about 95% of issues. They're also very much in favor of limiting America's involvement in foreign aid, ending NAFTA and CAFTA and other free trade agreements, opposed to wars in foreign countries, and believe in repurposing the military from Iraq and Afghanistan to protect the border from illegal immigrants. They've also fought against fringe individuals that attempted to introduce racist elements into the party. In other words: they're pretty much in line with the exact platform that Pat Buchanan ran on in 2000 and continues to push to this day.

Which makes it very interesting that Pat himself is not a member of the Party, having returned to the Republican party after a 5-year absence in 2004. But that doesn't keep him from selling his books through the party's website, specially autographed for the party's use.

To date, they've never run a Presidential candidate (endorsing the Constitution Party in 2004 and 2008, along with Libertarian Bob Barr in 2008) and haven't had any party members elected as a member of the party.

9. Communist Party USA

There's a lot of debate today about the benefits and detriments about socialism and communism, but most people probably don't realize that the US has had its own collection of Red parties for nearly a century. The earliest one was the Socialist Labor Party, which was a pretty powerful little party in its day, but split in different directions in 1919 with the rise of Vladimir Lenin in Russia, who invited the leftists to join the Communist International Party. This actually didn't work very well, since it ignited the first Red Scare of the late teens and early '20s, forcing the various factions underground.

Rising again in the mid-20's, the Communist Party USA never had a chance in any kind of election. In 1928, they faced down against the seemingly-unbeatable Republican Party in the midst of the Roaring 20's, and for the next 5 elections after that, they faced down the juggernaut of the Democrat Party with FDR and Harry Truman. Then, of course, you have the 1-2 punch of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Army-McCarthy Hearings in the US Senate.

By then, much attention had been turned to the fact that the CPUSA was pretty much the puppet arm of and often spied for America's greatest enemy: the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the CPUSA has struggled to find an identity without the support of its former ally.

Most of the influence of the CPUSA can be seen in history rather than in political success. They've never had any real success in elections, local or national, however, their close alliances with labor unions is still felt to this day, and their child parties formed at later dates have been instrumental in both the anti-war movement and the radical elements of the Civil Rights movement, such as the Black Panthers and the later Black Radical Congress.

8. Marijuana Party

Remember the Prohibition Party? Well, say hello to their polar opposite: the Marijuana Party. Formed in 2002 by a woman from Alabama who'd been arrested for misdemeanor pot possession, the Party's platform is pretty basic: legalize pot, end the drug war, and refocus law enforcement dollars on combating violent crime. They don't talk much about things like foreign affairs or social issues. Just weed.

Unsurprisingly for a single-issue party, they've not done very well. They've mostly backed Libertarian candidates and haven't really expanded beyond a loose collection of people who want Americans to have the legal right to toke up. They've had no luck in the few races they've run candidates in, and their own founder, Loretta Nall, had zero luck running for governor of Alabama as a Libertarian, receiving 0.02% of the statewide vote.

7. Workers World Party

The Workers World Party got its start in the late 50's by declaring themselves the true descendants of Trotskyist socialism, not like those filthy folks in the Socialist Workers Party.

For the record, the real difference between all the flavors of socialism / communism is in how the power within the state is balanced, and whether that balance is achieved through a democratic process or through a committee-based process or through state control. There's a lot of finer points that go along with it, but for most Americans, that's the best, most simple explanation to start the discussion.

Meanwhile, the Workers World Party hasn't been so successful in election politics as much as it has been in influence and attention-grabbing stunts and intra-party splits. They've been very vocal in their support of the North Korean government and in their opposition to the Vietnam War. In recent years, they helped to found the ANSWER Coalition in opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that group has now gone with a split-off group called the Party for Socialism and Liberation, whose politics are pretty much a carbon copy of the WWP.

6. Pirate Party

Don't sign up for the Pirate Party if you're looking for peglegs and Johnny Depp slurring all over the place. This party has absolutely nothing to do with sailing the seven seas, and everything to do with a libertarian ethic, equality, and reforming intellectual property laws. They've not gone too far into setting up a full platform, but their core values favor the open exchange of ideas and tools, transparency, individual privacy, equality, and merit-based reward.

Started in 2006 as an extension of the Swedish Pirate Party, the US Pirate Party isn't a fan of traditional left-right politics, instead favoring the hacker ethic put into political practice. Their initial purpose was to provide support for the free distribution of materials over the BitTorrent filesharing network and to fight for changes to copyright and trademark laws. Since then, they've evolved their platform into a more traditional format, still heavily focusing on issues like freedom of information, civil liberties, personal privacy, and opposition to monopolies.

Internationally, the Pirate Party has seen some significant success, winning seats in the European Parliament. Locally in the US, the story isn't quite as successful, with no wins in elections and ballot access in less than half of the states.

5. Modern Whigs

One of the big arguments in American politics is whether there is a place for a true middle-ground party to represent the moderates who don't find a consistent home in either the Republican or Democrat parties. The Modern Whigs are seeking to fill that void.

The original Whig Party was one of the foundational elements of the Second Party System in the 2nd quarter of the 1800's, when the Democratic-Republicans split into the Jacksonian Democrats and the National Republicans, led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. The Whigs formed from the ashes of the National Republicans and formed a powerhouse of a party until they just kinda fell apart around 1850 or so, when Millard Fillmore took the Presidency from the recently deceased Zachary Taylor. They slowly dissolved over the next few years, ultimately reforming in the Republican Party.

Begun in 2008 by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Modern Whigs believed that neither party was fulfilling their obligations to the American people, and sought to fill the void being created by the polarization of the two major parties. Their platform is centrist, and based in pragmatism and what they believe is common sense. The best description we can come up with is that they're slightly libertarian centrists that avoid the populism of earlier middle-ground third parties.

While the Modern Whigs haven't been as successful on the national or state levels as the original Whigs, they have had some success in local elections.

4. Reform Party

The Reform Party formed in 1995 as a reaction to Ross Perot's unsuccessful but notable run for the Presidency in 1992, when he was the most successful third party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt's run on the Progressive / Bull Moose ticket in 1912. Running Perot in 1996 was a natural flow for the party, who was shut out of the debates between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole (he made up for it via infomercials). The Party began to faction afterwards, over time breaking off groups like the American Reform Party, various Independence Parties, and the aforementioned America First Party.

The 2002 split with the AFP came about when the party decided to back Pat Buchanan over former Natural Law perennial candidate John Hagelin. Going with such a solid conservative angered party members, and so the Buchanan branch broke away, taking a lot of members and money with them. The RPUSA has been rebuilding from this split since 2002, barely cracking the public consciousness in Presidential Elections.

Those who criticize the idea of the place for a third party in the United States often point to the failure of the Reform Party to maintain its significance as a good model of why those parties are doomed to fail. Here's a party that's built on many of the issues that centrists find appealing: fiscal conservatism and social liberalism, with a strong belief in America's uniqueness and exceptionalism - and since Ross Perot ran, it has consistently flopped in national elections as centrists ultimately voted for either Republicans or Democrats, probably because the party wasn't truly a centrist party as much as it was a party that appealed to varying extremes of the two major parties.

That's not to say there hasn't been some success, most notably in the form of Jesse Ventura as governor of Minnesota for a single term, who appointed Reformer Dean Barkley to serve out the remaining term of Senator Paul Wellstone, who had died in a plane crash. Originally, Ventura wasn't going to appoint a replacement for Wellstone, but when his funeral was turned into a political rally, Ventura became so disgusted that he made the appointment anyway, providing Republicans a crucial vote in favor of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The party also continues to attract disaffected politicians from the two major parties, including former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer and former Ambassador Alan Keyes.

3. Constitution Party

People who think that Republicans are too conservative and call George Bush the most conservative President in the history of the United States are usually ignorant of the political spectrum and American history, and are usually wetting themselves by the time they finish reading the platform of the Constitution Party.

Started in 1991 as the US Taxpayers' Party, these guys are, by far, the most conservative and theocratic party in the United States. Along with supporting typical hard-right conservative issues like an absolute originalist interpretation of the Constitution, ending illegal immigration, opposition to abortion and gay marriage, support for the death penalty, and a strong federal government, they also support a few theories most would consider fringe, like withdrawal from nearly all foreign relations and wars, replacing the income tax with an excise tariff, and repealing the direct election of Senators under the 17th Amendment.

Oh - and they want to, under law, declare Jesus Christ the Ruler of the Universe and these United States.

They've not had too much success in national elections, with their maximum result being Howard Philips receiving 0.19% of the vote in 1996's race, followed closely by Pastor Chuck Baldwin in 2012 with 0.14% of the vote. On the state level, they've done a pretty good job in attracting big-name candidates, but not in winning races. New Hampshire Senator, Bob Smith, was a member of the Party for a month in 1999 when he failed to catch any interest from the GOP for their nomination for the Presidency, and then followed up with a failure to gain any ground for the Constitution Party's nomination (thanks, apparently, to the New World Order), causing him to switch again to being Independent before losing his seat to John Sununu in 2002. Former Ambassador Alan Keyes has sought their nomination for the Presidency. In Colorado, former GOP Representative Tom Tancredo ran for the Governorship on the Constitution Party Ticket and got enough votes to come in 2nd in the race, more than tripling the numbers of the 3rd place GOP candidate.

2. Green Party

The Greens are an interesting group, and are a near-total antithesis to the Constitution Party. Strongly left-wing and just as populist, the Green Party has made its influence felt in American Politics without winning a single Federal election.

The Green Party started in the 1980's as an extension of the eco-socialist West German Die Grünen party. The original purpose was baked in the Nuclear Age: opposition to the growing nuclear stalemate between the US and USSR, opposition to nuclear power and industrialization, a desire for government to address environmental issues like pollution, and general opposition to the NATO military buildup. Over time, these positions evolved into a solid left-wing populist belief system that spread around the globe, sparking the formation of Green Parties in other countries, including in the United States.

Their current positions are pretty much what you'd expect from a far left-wing party: environmentalism, social justice, opposition to violence, and a socialist approach to democracy, economics, domestic issues, and personal and corporate responsibility.

Their effectiveness on the campaign trail has been pretty far-reaching. On the Federal level, while they've never won a single electoral vote, they did steal enough liberal votes away from Al Gore in 2000 to quite possibly cost him the election, and became the rare American third party to achieve greater than a 1% turnout at the ballot box. At the state level, they've had the occasional win for a state legislature seat, but their greatest success has come at the municipal level, where they've won mayorships and city council seats at a fairly impressive rate for a third party. In fact, four towns in the US (Fairfax California, Arcata California, Sebastopol California, and New Paltz New York) currently have Green Party majorities on their city councils.

1. Libertarian Party

If there's a third party that's been waiting in the wings to take the stage in American politics, it's the Libertarian Party. Started in 1972 with the borrowed slogan "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", they gained immediate attention when a Republican Elector pledged to Richard Nixon changed his vote to the Libertarian Party ticket of John Hospers and Theodora Nathan, casting the first electoral vote for a woman on a Presidential ticket in American history.

Over the years, their influence would wax and wane as they fought to gain ballot access in all 50 states and find candidates to run. They found them in all sorts of places, from airline pilots to former Republican Congressman Ron Paul (who later switched his membership back to the GOP and got re-elected to the US House, and later, twice, ran for President on the GOP ticket).

Their influence would be fairly minimal, however, until 2009, when the Tea Party movement grew in influence in opposition to the agenda of President Barack Obama and the supermajority Democrat-controlled Congress. The Libertarians worked within the movement and gained back much of the support they'd lost over the 90's and 2000's.

The politics of the Libertarian Party are often viewed as hard right-wing, but this is not accurate. If anything, they are as government-minimalist as you can possibly get without going full-on anarchist. They favor a hands-off, absolute free-market approach to the economy, absolutely no government involvement or influence in personal matters, and no foreign aid or intervention unless absolutely, 1000% necessary. Ayn Rand wrote "Atlas Shrugged", but the Libertarians expanded on it (ironically, since Rand herself hated the Libertarian Party, fearing their rule would lead to anarchism, which would eventually lead to collectivism, which she was heavily opposed to).

From an electoral point of view, the Libertarian Party has probably been more successful than any current third party. They've reached the magic 1% level in 2 elections (1980 and 2012) and are the only third party since 1972 to get an electoral vote. They're also the only one to have ballot access in all 50 states. They've won hundreds of elections to state and municipal seats and, as of today, 149 Libertarians are currently serving around the country (mostly in city councils).

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Top 10 Political Third Parties Currently Active in the United States - Toptenz.net

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Third parties have an interesting history in American politics. Historically, every major party started out as some sort of underdog and rose to the top of the heap. Today, we have more choices than ever when we go to the ballot box, which brings up the question: which third party fits you best?

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Be Libertarian with Gov. Gary Johnson. Visit www.GaryJohnson2016.com

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While their candidates for President of the United States and Congress stand little chance of being elected, members of America's third political parties have historically promoted concepts and policies that have been incorporated as important parts of our social and political lives. Here are some major examples:

Women's Right to Vote

Both the Prohibition and Socialist Parties promoted the women's suffrage movement during the late 1800's.

By 1916, both Republicans and Democrats supported it and by 1920, the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote had been ratified.

Child Labor Laws

The Socialist Party first advocated laws establishing minimum ages and limiting hours of work for American children in 1904. The Keating-Owen Act established such laws in 1916.

Immigration Restrictions

The Immigration Act of 1924 came about as a result of support by the Populist Party starting as early as the early 1890's.

Reduction of Working Hours

You can thank the Populist and Socialist Parties for the 40-hour work week. Their support for reduced working hours during the 1890's led to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Income Tax

In the 1890's, the Populist and Socialist Parties supported a "progressive" tax system that would base a person's tax liability on their amount of income. The idea led to ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913.

The Socialist Party also supported a fund to provide temporary compensation for the unemployed in the late 1920's. The idea led to the creation of laws establishing unemployment insurance and the Social Security Act of 1935.

'Tough on Crime'

In 1968, the American Independent Party and its presidential candidate George Wallace advocated "getting tough on crime." The Republican Party adopted the idea in its platform and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 was the result.

(George Wallace won 46 electoral votes in the 1968 election. This was the highest number of electoral votes collected by a third party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt, running for the Progressive Party in 1912, won 88 votes.)

While the following is far from all of the recognized third parties in American politics, the Libertarian, Reform, Green and Constitution Parties are usually the most active in presidential elections.

Founded in 1971, the Libertarian party is the third largest political party in America. Over the years, Libertarian Party candidates have been elected to many state and local offices.

Libertarians believe the federal government should play a minimal role in the day-to-day affairs of the people. They believe that the only appropriate role of government is to protect the citizens from acts of physical force or fraud. A libertarian-style government would therefore limit itself to a police, court, prison system and military. Members support free market economy and are dedicated to protection of civil liberties and individual freedom.

In 1992, Texan H. Ross Perot spent over $60 million of his own money to run for president as an independent. Perot's national organization, know as "United We Stand America" succeeded in getting Perot on the ballot in all 50 states. Perot won 19 percent of the vote in November, the best result for a third party candidate in 80 years. Following the 1992 election, Perot and "United We Stand America" organized into the Reform Party. Perot again ran for president as the Reform Party candidate in 1996 winning 8.5 percent of the vote.

As its name implies, Reform Party members are dedicated to reforming the American political system. They support candidates they feel will "re-establish trust" in government by displaying high ethical standards coupled with fiscal responsibility and accountability.

The American Green Party's platform is based on the following 10 Key Values:

Ecological wisdom

Community-based economics

Grassroots democracy

Decentralization

Gender equality

Personal and social responsibility

Respect for diversity

Nonviolence

Global responsibility

"Greens seek to restore balance through recognizing that our planet and all of life are unique aspects of an integrated whole, and also through affirming the significant inherent values and contribution of each part of that whole." The Green Party - Hawaii

In 1992, American Taxpayer Party presidential candidate Howard Phillips appeared on the ballot in 21 states. Mr. Phillips again ran in 1996, achieving ballot access in 39 states. At its national convention in 1999, the party officially changed its name to the "Constitution Party" and again chose Howard Phillips as its presidential candidate for 2000.

The Constitution Party favors a government based a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and the principals expressed in it by the Founding Fathers. They support a government limited in scope, structure and power of regulation over the people. Under this goal, the Constitution Party favors a return of most governmental powers to the states, communities and the people.

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While their candidates for President of the United States and Congress stand little chance of being elected, members of America's third political parties have historically promoted concepts and policies that have been incorporated as important parts of our social and political lives.

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Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Obama, sheds light on the formula for crafting a perfect stump speech. #America 101 Subscribe for more from HISTORY: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=historychannel Discover more about United States presidential elections here: http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-elections ...and check out biographies of every U.S.