We don’t like the two-party system. So why do we have it?
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America’s two-party system is widely hated. Very few Americans think the two major parties do an adequate job representing us, and most say more parties are needed. But when it comes time to vote, very few of us actually vote for third-party candidates. Often, this is explained as either a failure of will (we’d have third parties if more people would just vote for them), or a conspiracy (the political and media establishments suppress third-party candidates and ideas).
And it’s not that those things aren’t true. But there’s a much simpler explanation, and it’s the very basic rule governing almost every single one of our elections: Only one person can win. If you’re American, that probably sounds utterly reasonable: what the hell other kinds of elections even are there? But the answer is: lots. Winner-take-all elections (also called plurality voting, or “first past the post”) are actually a practice that most advanced democracies left behind long ago — and they’re what keep us from having more political options.
Even if you’re not sold on the need for more parties in the US, though, scratch the surface of “only one person can win” a little and you start to see how it actually produces perverse results within the two-party system as well. It’s a big part of why the political parties have moved farther apart from each other, and it leaves about half of the country without any political representation at all. Watch the video above to see how.
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00:00 Two choices
1:05 Winner take all elections
3:05 Proportional representation
6:14 How to change things
This video was inspired in part by this 2017 video by Liz Scheltens, Mallory Brangan, and Matt Yglesias, which I really recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-9op64t2M
Sources and further reading:
The political journal Democracy devoted an entire issue to the idea of proportional representation in the US, with essays by several of the people who have thought the most about it: https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/70/for-a-better-democracy-proportional-representation/
The advocacy group Protect Democracy put together a really helpful primer on the different kinds of proportional representation and the philosophy behind it in general: https://protectdemocracy.org/work/proportional-representation-explained/
Protect Democracy also authored this report about how to actually change the law that prevents proportional representation in the US Congress: https://protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Towards-Proportional-Representation-_-March-2023-.pdf
The organization FairVote mapped out what multi-member congressional districts would look like throughout the US: https://fairvote.org/sample-fair-representation-act-maps/
RadioLab did an episode explaining single transferable voting, Ireland’s electoral system, that I found really fun and helpful: https://radiolab.org/podcast/tweak-vote/transcript
Here’s the 2023 poll showing that two-thirds of Americans want a viable third party: https://news.gallup.com/poll/512135/support-third-political-party.aspx
The UK’s Electoral Reform Society has a helpful resource on which countries use which kinds of electoral system: https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/which-european-countries-use-proportional-representation/
The Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center has info on where in the US ranked choice voting is already being used: https://www.rcvresources.org/where-is-rcv-used
The federal law mandating single-member districts for congressional elections is the 1967 Uniform Congressional District Act. The language is here in Section 2c: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title2/pdf/USCODE-2011-title2-chap1-sec2c.pdf
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really good video, learned a lot about America.
Here's another thought: allow negative votes. For each possible party/candidate, you can vote positively, negatively or be neutral. Some candidates that would usually win will end up with negative votes in the end.
Do you want to change your system? Good luck.
The only difference between China and USA is that China is a one party state while USA is a two party state.
I think it's intentional and it's done in as many sectors as we can where we can group people into certain groups or identities. With politics now being so outspoken and engrained into society when it typically wasn't when I was a teenager. Now if you ever disagree with any point one party makes even if it's your own you automatically get labelled as the other side and if your into US politics the opposing side for either group are basically evil reincarnate. It's a good way of keeping people in line without them even realising they are the ones enforcing the rules they're having subliminally sent to them. Communism = 1 party = bad. Democracy = 2 party's = Land of the free!
Until now.
Hey Vox Can You Please Make A Part 2 Of Why US elections only give you two choices? Thanks
Oh thank god this is finally getting attention, the hopelessness for the past 8 years is unbearable
People hate the two party system but when given the option to vote for a 3rd party, most people will vote for one of the two main parties. Every place that has 3+ parties will almost always end up with a two party system.
I don’t want to destroy the whole point made by the video (which it made sense to me) but US being the oldest democracy in the world? Come on it’s basic history. It’s not even considered the oldest continuous democracy either
We must continue to improve the system in which things are not static but always living and changing in conditions. I am a supporter of a third party in Mongolia and there is now solid data that its existence brought about more civic engagements. The political competition does have a visible impact on the ways the government handles key decisions.
“Managed democracy”😉
US is not a democracy. How can only two political parties exist in a democracy
i have youtube premium because of Vox.
It's worth mentioning that when the Scottish Parliament was formed, Scotland was forced to use proportional representation (d'Hont) specifically so that no party (particularly pro independence parties) could win a majority in Parliament (at least not easily). Westminster saw FPTP as a threat to the establishment in Scotland. Oh the irony…
Inerestingly Westminster do NOT want proportional representation for their own elections for some reason…
We need Germany's system. The US winner takes all system is just totalitarianism with extra steps.
vote rfk
Because of money. Pretty simple
Shout out to CGP Grey for introducing me to this topic with his "politics in the animal kingdom" playlist.
"Let's talk about this:"
In the us we don't have a CHOICE, we have a dilemma.
A choice involves 3 realistic options
One way that might work is to START OVER and name/rename THREE separate, parties:
Instead of Democratic, Republican, and 3rd party, name them Lib, Con, and Alt parties. Where Lib=Liberals, Con=Conservatives, and Alt=Alternative. IOW, from the beginning of every election, you have three LEGITIMATE choices. Honestly, when we look at 3rd party candidates, they are ALWAYS "way out there!"
I wouldn't say the US is really a democracy. If over 60% of the population want to vote for another party and are forced to vote for one of two parties, democracy has failed. Especially if these two parties do anything to stop other parties from participating…
Here are the world's freest 10 countries according to the Human Freedom Index. They all use a variety of proportional representation. Here are the types of proportional representation they use.
Mixed Member Proportional; Denmark, Finland, Norway,, Estonia
Closed List; New Zealand, Sweden, Iceland
Open List; Switzerland, Luxembourg
Single Transferable Vote; Ireland
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