| Shadow1980 said: Like @vivster said, we need major electoral reform if American democracy can ever hope to support more than two major parties. |
Here is a map of Canada's 2015 election. Canada has a FPTP system, just like the United States. You'll notice that four parties had representation
Here is a 2019 electoral map.
Notice that five parties have representation.
Here is a map of the 2015 U.K elections, like Canada and the U.S they have a FPTP system.
Here is a map of the 2019 U.K elections.
Duverger's law tells us that there will be two major parties in any system based on FPTP, but it doesn't say that third parties will have absolutely no influence or ability to influence elections.
Like I noted in my previous post, roughly 90 House seats are solidly Democratic to the point that only 30% (or less) of their constituents vote Republican. This means that the vote could split down the middle Democratic/left-wing third party 35% for each, and one of them would still win because the Republican only gets 30% (at max) of the vote normally.
Duverger's law doesn't apply in the situation where one of the national parties are so weak in a certain region to the extent that it becomes essentially a third party in that region.
This is why you find Lib Dem/Conservative constituencies in Britain, or NDP/Conservative ridings in Canada. There is no reason why there can't be Populist Party/Democratic districts or Populist Party/Republican Party districts in the U.S where those are the two major parties of that district.
Last edited by sc94597 - on 22 August 2020
