Why The United States Has Only Two Major Political Parties

Final Exam Essays Essay Prompt 1: Discuss why the United States has only two major political parties. The United States government is commonly referred to as a â€Å"Duopoly†, which means that there are two established political parties, Democratic and Republic, and that these two parties share the vast majority of the political power in the country. This is because the United States follows a winner-takes-all voting system, utilizing a â€Å"single-member district plurality†. The â€Å"single-member district† portion means that for each geographic area or district, there is only one elected official, and the â€Å"plurality† portion means that in United States elections, the representative or politician who receives the most number of votes, wins the given election, even if it’s less than half the percentage of votes. According to Duverger’s law, a Political Science principle, plurality voting procedures correlationally support the emergence of only two political parties, in contrast to a multiparty democracy. This is largely because there have only been two parties for so long, and these two parties have made it such a point to make their separation of ideals and beliefs blatant, so the vast majority of the voters have for the most part picked a definitive â€Å"side†, so to speak, and have registered as a member of the corresponding political party, that caters the most to their individual ideals. Because of this, it has made it very hard for any smaller parties to gain enough support toShow MoreRelatedTwo Party System802 Words   |  4 PagesWhy the United States has a Two-Party System Beginning in its infant stage, the United States has consistently maintained two dominant political parties that initially included the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists who debated the ratification of the Constitution. Although the Federalists and the Ant-Federalists eventually gave way to the Republicans and Democrats, they set a precedent for the continued dominance of the two-party system that remains in effect. There are several reasons supportingRead MoreThe Democratic Party And The Republican Party1238 Words   |  5 Pages Two political parties have dominated the United States: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The term â€Å"Third party† is used in the United States to describe any political party besides the well-known Republican and Democratic parties. 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