Obstacles to 3rd Party Success

Below are resources for you to use to research the obstacles 3rd parties face in achieving electoral success.

Resources Start With:
The Problems with First Past the Post (Winner-Take-All) Voting Explained

Third Parties in the U.S. Political Process

Why Can't Third Parties Take Off?

Barriers to third party success

Ralph Nader says third-party candidates don’t stand a chance — and that’s lousy for democracy

Can A Third-Party Candidate Ever Become President?
MRC Study: Challengers to Clinton and Trump Get Just 0.03% of TV News Airtime

Going Further:
The best way to get more specific research about a specific barrier (like limited ballot access) is to do a google search with the following terms:

• 3rd parties + topic
• For example, google 3rd parties limited ballot access will send you to a great resource here: Ballot access for major and minor party candidates

Fishbowl Current Controversy: Critical Election Coming

Fishbowl Resources:
Exit Polls: How Voting Blocs Have Shifted From the ’80s to Now - from The New York Times
2016 Presidential Election Results - from The New York Times
2018 Midterm Election Results- from The New York Times

Snow Day Assignment

First, happy first snow day of the year...in November...this could be a bad sign, but let's stay positive! Speaking of staying positive, below you will find your assignment for this weekend. Unfortunately, this well-timed snow day has messed up our delicate schedule as we head towards Thanksgiving break. So, I am changing our critical election assignment from the group poster we talked about in class (we have to scrap that unfortunately) to analyzing the 4 most recent critical elections (1860, 1896, 1932, 1980). Your assignment is described in more detail below and links are included for you to access the necessary materials. Also, don't forget all this information and more (!) can be found on the blog under the class materials section. As always, if you have any questions about the assignment, or anything else for that matter, please let me know. I'm always happy to help!

The Assignment:

1. Complete the Critical Election Chart for all 4 elections using the Critical Election Analysis Reading (don't forget to use the maps at the end of the reading too!). 
2. You should use the critical election theory summary I passed out in class on block day titled "Critical Election Theory: The Cycle of American Politics" to help you complete the chart (there is also a Critical Election PPT on the blog that might be helpful to look at).
3. Be ready to discuss these elections and the theory on Monday!

Links for the Assignment (if you don't want to access the blog):

Critical Election Theory: The Cycle of American Politics

Critical Election Theory PPT

Critical Election Analysis Reading

Critical Election Analysis Chart

Have a great first snow day and I'll see everyone Monday!

Crash Course Political Parties

Unpacking the 2018 Midterms

The State of Congress:
New York Times Results

Exit Polls:
CNN
Wall Street Journal

Is America Conflictual or Consensual?

American political culture used to be very consensual. Everyone would compromise and be very civil but still stand their ground on what they believed is right. Today, we have become very conflictual for many reasons. A major example for this would be the 2016 Presidential election. President Trump and Hillary Clinton said terrible things about each other and had terrible sportsman ship. They made politicians look very immature. By talking badly about one another they have started to make America seem more conflictual because they did not compromise to try and make America better as a whole. Some more factual proof is and excerpt by David Brooks.In this article he wrote about how different the two political parties are. He also depicted how one party views the other. Our society as a whole is very judgmental and does not want to take other peoples opinion into perspective. There have been many protest and very violent acts done against other peoples' beliefs. The way Democrats view Republicans and vice versa is very inhumane. If we were to work together to make compromises and be more accepting to many peoples opinions our country would go back to consensual. James Madison wanted many factions who had conflict but he also said they would compromise. As time goes on, we are getting farther and farther away from compromise. Overall, America is starting to become conflictual but is till on the cusp. It cannot be decided what we are but if we continue down the path we are in we are going to become extremely conflictual.