With the presidential election coming up in November, the rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is especially infuriating to us on the editorial team.
In previous editorials, we’ve expressed that we do not feel these candidates represent the general public for a multitude of reasons, especially because of their age. However, another big issue we feel coming to light is the drawbacks that a two-party system has on our democracy.
Having the same two candidates matched up against each other four years after their original pairing feels stifling. Much of this feeling comes from having two candidates who are widely disliked. Unfortunately, these two candidates represent the only viable options for representation, as third-party candidates are not given equitable opportunities for exposure.
We feel the two-party political system limits representation. In our eyes, the two-party system is a construct designed to limit adequate representation for Americans, funneling our choices between bad and worse.
One major problem we see with the two-party system is that oftentimes, popular third-party candidates do not have the same opportunities for their voices to be heard. Third-party candidates are not included in the same public debates or given the same media exposure as Democrats and Republicans. This is reflected in the sentiment that third-party candidates are not serious threats to established candidates in the two-party system.
We feel this silences third-party voices and severely limits their abilities to have their voices heard.
This is something we have noticed particularly with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Many on our editorial staff expressed that they would back Kennedy over both Biden and Trump. Kennedy seems to have a shot in the public eye. According to a Gallup poll released in January, Kennedy was the leading candidate in favorability 52%, with a 10% lead over Trump (42%) and Biden (41%). However, candidates such as Nikki Haley have suspended their campaigns. Currently, favorability between Trump and Biden is approximately even at 45%.
Still, without mainstream party support, third-party candidates struggle to gain exposure. Although Kennedy’s family history in politics has helped bring him to the forefront of American attention, a two-party system quells a lot of the momentum that can be built.
Some states are already making a move to ranked-choice voting in their elections, which allows voters to rank candidates in order of favorability. In this system, votes are sent down to the voters’ next ranked candidate if their first choice does not win. This gives people the opportunity to support a wide array of candidates, especially third-party candidates. While this may not necessarily result in the election of third-party candidates to office, it could be a vehicle for changing how we view the absolutes of a two-party system.
In the future, we would like to see opportunities for third-party candidates to have greater prominence and viability for voters through public engagement and other ways of voting that could better include the voices of third-party voters.
