Public Interest in Having a Third Major Party Dips to 56%

This topic is starting to buzz as we look to the 2024 presidential election.

Dems are scared to death already. Biden cannot win.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — After reaching a high of 62% at the start of 2021 , the percentage of Americans believing the existing political parties “do such a poor job that a third major party is needed” has returned to a more typical 56%.

At the same time, four in 10 Americans do not see the need for a third party, agreeing that “the Republican and Democratic parties do an adequate job of representing the American people.”

The 56% of Americans who currently believe the country would benefit from a third major party roughly matches the average 55% holding this view across Gallup’s trend, since 2003. Support was much lower in that initial measure (at 40%) than it has been in most years since.

The perceived need for a third major party has also tended to be slightly lower in presidential and midterm election years (averaging 54% since 2006) than in nonelection years (57%). The election effect was especially pronounced in 2008 and 2012, when third-party support dropped nine or 10 percentage points from the year prior, into the mid-40s, although the reason for that is not clear.

Since then, the dampening of third-party demand during election years has seemingly persisted, with support for a third party being two to four points lower in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022 than in the immediately preceding years.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/402515/public-interest-having-third-major-party-dips.aspx