We the People: An Introduction to American Government, 13e by Thomas E. Patterson

Author:Thomas E. Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub

The General Election Campaign

The winner in the November general election is nearly certain to be the Republican or the Democratic candidate. Two-thirds of the nation’s voters identify with the Republican or Democratic Party, and most independents lean toward one or the other party. As a result, the major-party presidential nominees start the general election campaign with a large backing. Even Democrat George McGovern, whose level of party support was the lowest in the past half century, was backed in 1972 by 60 percent of his party’s identifiers.

Because the Democratic and Republican nominees have a built-in advantage, a third-party candidate’s chances of victory are remote. Nevertheless, some voters in every presidential election cast their ballots for a third-party candidate. In 2016, Clinton and Trump had unusually high unfavorable ratings, and the Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and the Green Party nominee Jill Stein collectively received 4 percent of the popular vote. If they had not been in the race, polls indicated that most of their support would have gone to Clinton, although it’s unclear whether it would have been enough to tip the Electoral College vote in her favor.20

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