Can A Third Party Win a Presidential Election?

A clip from Mr. Beat's conversation with @AndreDutraTV at the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence, Kansas on March 26, 2025.

Edited by Hudson Louie and Matt Beat.
Music by Electric Needle Room.

Watch the full stream here:

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[iammrbeat]

Do you agree? Do you disagree? Do you have an opinion? I bet you do because this is the internet.

[squatch]

If only Teddie had won in 1912, preferably as the Bull Moose president. It would’ve probably set the stage for more third parties to run and we wouldn’t have elections that are just Keynesian beauty contests. Plus it would likely diversify Congress to be more than just a sea of red and blue

[bighand]

Not in today’s day and age. Closest was Ross Perot. And that was in 1992. And that was 33 years ago.

[CharlieMcGill]

Bernie sanders could’ve done that in 2016

[ramal]

Imagine if Teddy got elected in 1912 for his THIRD term by staying with the Republican Party, the US would not be an isolationist in 1914, joined WWI in 1915 or 1916 latest, be the leading figure in League of Nations and not be so hard on Germany in post WWI like the French did, get the women the vote much earlier and many more. The last Republican president that didn't have a recession or depression during his term.

[lemonmazter]

I find it sad that Ted didn’t want a third term because of the precedent that Washington set but today we have a president who wants to break the constitution to get another term

[danielsantiagourtado]

A short in my Birthday!? AMAZING! thanks For this 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[TeddyRoosevelt-]

Thank you very much! would be amazing to see another third party candidate in the future. Our third party friends Robert La Follette and Ross perrot are here in heaven also chatting about hoping for another third party canidate.

[SecularZionist]

There was a point when I was sure Bernie would run as a third party candidate in 2016. He might've given the win to Trump but it would serve as a way to take control away from neo-liberal establishment and turning the Democratic party into a new Progressive party. I think if any third party candidate has a chance of being a real competition in the coming years it would be an economically left, socially center-center right candidate that would attract poor-middle class folks from all sides of the political spectrum, an outsider to both parties that has grassroots support. And if he's smart I think he can take even more votes from the right than the left- a lot of right wingers in America are only right wing socially, economically they just wanna vote for someone who can "fix the economy"

[danielsantiagourtado]

Thanks For this mr beat! Love your content ❤❤❤❤

[Zitsanrael]

The short answer is "yes" but the long answer is that it's very unfeasible. I think the reason for this is that people today don't vote for who they want to win, they vote against the people they want to lose. Take me for example; I went from voting for Obama, to not voting at all, to voting for Trump, to voting Republican down the ticket. I don't like the Republican party either, and the fact that I feel it necessary to vote for candidates I don't know anything about really upsets me, but I'm at the point right now where I would vote for a literal fence post before I vote for anyone with a "D" next to their name. If I could have voted for the person I actually wanted to win the presidency, I would have voted for Ron DeSantis, or Vivek Ramaswamy, or Tim Scott before I would vote for Donald Trump (hell, I'd even take Tulsi Gabbard), but my main priority when I voted last November was to see the Democrats lose; of the choices I had to pick from, I chose the ones who I thought could actually win, not the ones I actually *wanted* to win, but the ones I thought had the best chance of making sure the Democrats lost. It's just that simple.

[jimmccoy]

I voted for Perot in '92. I foolishly thought he had a puncher's chance, BUT I learned my lesson. The short answer? "NO!"

[tylerclark]

Even Trump couldn’t have done it this year. You probably would’ve seen 30% Trump 20% desantis and 50% Kamala

[AlbertoPatiñoSánchez]

The most that a third party could potentially do is deadlock the electoral college only if that party has enough support in a specific region and manages to sweep all the states in that region. Kinda like what Wallace tried to do in '68. Even doing that would be extremely difficult so winning the whole election would be almost impossible

[tommymarciano]

According to Duverger’s law, there cannot be a viable third party given our current representative system

[ramal]

I wish in 2024 the Republicans would grow a pair and mature a bit to move on from Trump and their presidential candidate would be either Haley or DeSantis, Trump then would have to make his own party to try to win the presidency with the backing of his followers.

[hanifmsomc]

Vote third party, no matter what. Be it in Congress, be it in Senate, be it the presidency. Even if third party get only 5% votes that would prompt the Rep/Dem candidates to do more in order to win those votes. People, you have the power to say no to both establishments. You got to play your hand sometimes in order to make it obvious.

[jimgorycki]

If you have members in Congress stepping up and identifying themselves as 3rd way -- either Progressive Democrats or Rockefeller Republicans, then I could see it. They would align with the middle of the spectrum. It's a gutsy move

[aleckazamproductions]

I learned in polisci class that 3rd parties couldn't win because of plurality voting

[Ftheradicalleft]

It’s simple: no; literally any third party candidate has absolutely no chance of being in our government only dems and reps as it has been since the 1850s