Minor Party Presidential Candidates and Southern Politics: A Regional Comparison
Editors
Charles S. Bullock III; Mark J. Rozell
Document Type
Chapter
Publication Date
2-2012
Publication Title
Oxford Handbook of Southern Politics
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publisher Location
New York
First page number:
382
Last page number:
400
Abstract
Third-party candidates have long been a feature of presidential elections in the United States, despite formidable institutional, political, and cultural constraints on minor parties. This article describes and explains regional differences in third-party voting in recent presidential elections. The barriers imposed on minor parties in the United States are well known. Most prominent among these is the single-member district plurality system, which characterizes most elections in the United States. Voters who cast votes for candidates outside the two-party system risk incurring the “wasted vote” phenomenon, by which votes cast for minor party candidates may advantage major party candidates disfavored by those voters.
Keywords
Minor parties; Presidential candidates; Presidential elections; Presidents; Presidents--Election; Single-member district; Southern politics; Third parties (United States politics); Third-party voting
Disciplines
American Politics | Models and Methods | Political Science | Political Theory
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.
Repository Citation
Jelen, T. G.
(2012).
Minor Party Presidential Candidates and Southern Politics: A Regional Comparison. In Charles S. Bullock III; Mark J. Rozell,
Oxford Handbook of Southern Politics
382-400.
New York: Oxford University Press.