Battle on the Ballot: Political Outsiders in US Presidential Elections

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"Shall freedom or slavery triumph: Let Massachusetts speak!" 

Third-party candidates in US presidential elections have historically presented challenges to America’s two-party system, which has been particularly fixed as Democrat and Republican since the mid-nineteenth century. Falling all along the political spectrum, from conservative to moderate to liberal to radical, third parties and their nominees play an important role by offering voters reform alternatives to more established party politics and sometimes by campaigning on a single issue platform. Although they often struggle to compete with mainstream parties because of their relative lack of financial resources, third party candidates keep the possibility of reform in the minds of American voters and push more mainstream candidates to clarify and shift their political views.
Third-party presidential runs have met with mixed results. Socialist Eugene V. Debs ran five times for president on a workers’ rights platform, receiving 6% of the popular vote in 1912, his most successful election. 1924 Progressive Party nominee Robert La Follette, running on a broad progressive ticket, won 16% of the popular vote and 13 electoral votes from his home state of Wisconsin. Former Alabama governor George Wallace ran for president three times on a states’ rights platform, winning five southern states and 46 electoral votes in 1968. But a few third-party outsiders have had a profound impact inside the traditional two-party system—by shifting votes away from major parties and influencing the outcome of the election, or by achieving a degree of popular vote that threatened or beat that of a major party candidate. This section explores these third-party reform stories.

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Third-Party Reformers

Military Hero Turned President

Anti-Outsider Platforms

African Americans and Presidential Politics

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After strife with the Bush administration about the Persian Gulf War, billionaire businessman Ross Perot decided to run as an independent candidate for president in 1992. Appealing to resentment towards established politicians and advancing himself as a vital third candidate option, Perot campaigned on a platform that included balancing the federal budget, opposition to gun control, the end of job outsourcing, opposition to NAFTA, and popular input on government through electronic direct democracy town hall meetings. Perot challenged his supporters to petition for his name to appear on the ballot in all fifty states.
After primary season in June 1992, Perot briefly led the election in polls with 39% of the popular vote over Democrat Bill Clinton and incumbent Republican George H. W. Bush. But by July 1992, Perot’s campaign faced internal challenges and Perot formally withdrew from the race. Although he re-entered on October 1, 1992, voters remained unsure whether he was officially running and his popular image was dogged by his images as a “quitter.” In spite of this turbulence, Perot won 18.9% of the popular vote, from voters spread across the country as well as across party lines. Perot ran again in 1996 as the Reform Party candidate and won 8% of the popular vote. With his challenges to mainstream politics, he emerged as one of the most successful third party candidates in US history, with the most support from across the political spectrum since Theodore Roosevelt.

Battle on the Ballot: Political Outsiders in US Presidential Elections

Ross Perot and the Reform Party, 1992 and 1996

Ross Perot and the Reform Party, 1992 and 1996