2004 Ap Free Response Question 3

The political cartoon by Nick Anderson depicts Ralph Nader standing at a podium addressing American society’s “throw away mentality”. Meanwhile a citizen in the background is casting her vote for the green party behind him. Ironically, the ballot drops into a waste basket, thus a wasted vote. We now realize that Nader is not talking about the environment, but addressing the issue of how the general public views votes for 3rd party candidates. This cartoonist feels that we should reform our views on 3rd party candidates and vote for who we think would make the best president, despite there chance of winning or not.

In recent history no 3rd party candidates have come anywhere close to getting a substantial number of votes in the presidential elections. The last time a minor party was able to win a presidential election, was with Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. He was not truly campaigning under a minor party either; the Republican Party which he ran for had recently gained control of the congress and was becoming well established in the federal government. This is a key issue that 3rd parties must understand before they consider putting up a candidate for president.

The reason why 3rd party candidates don’t win in presidential elections is not because they are unqualified; it’s