What do Americans think about the two-party system?

Posted by romantic-theory@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 19 comments

I live in Canada and we have [five main political parties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_parties_in_Canada) in our House of Commons: 1. the Liberal Party, 2. the Conservative Party, 3. the Bloc Quebecois, 4. the New Democratic Party, and 5. the Green Party. Five parties allow us to have more choice at the ballot box and it also sometimes forces cooperation and negotiation, instead of having lawmakers hardline or play political games. And in our Senate, we have [“independent groups”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_Canada), not traditional parties. Are Americans generally fine with the two-party system, or do you wish you had more choice? If it’s the latter, why haven’t more choices been introduced yet?

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19 Comments

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Dear_Milk_4323@reddit

We love it because it’s an easy way to divide us vs. them

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warneagle@reddit

Two-party systems suck in theory and they suck even worse in practice when you have a right-wing party and a far-right party.

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GoodCallMeatball@reddit

Very few americans think the 2 party system is good, most americans are too scared to vote for a 3rd party out a fear their vote will end up helping a party they don't support, system continues.

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Slackjawed_Horror@reddit

Canada has 2 major parties and a handful of minor parties. But the US does need a parliamentary system, no Senate or president.

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20frvrz@reddit

Pretty sure it's universally hated, I've never met someone who thought it was a good idea. Even when we learned about it in school, we were taught about how much it sucks.

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swampopus@reddit

We all hate it. I've never met anyone who thinks only 2 parties is a good idea.

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romantic-theory@reddit (OP)

That’s fair. Some provinces only have two political parties (e.g., Alberta), but that’s generally viewed as somewhat normal. I can not imagine having only two parties at the federal level. Didn’t one of the Founding Fathers said a two-party political system is a bad thing too?

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Exotic_Resist_7718@reddit

We hate it, thanks for asking!

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SubstantialPressure3@reddit

I don't really like it. More choices would be better.

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Argo505@reddit

More choices *have* been introduced, silly. You don’t think we only have two political parties, right?

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Trick_Photograph9758@reddit

I wish we had at least 3 parties. Having the country lurch wildly back and forth between liberal and conservative is an objectively stupid way to run the greatest country on earth.

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ostensibly_sapient@reddit

i'm not super stoked on it, myself. but its super entrenched and will take an act of god to change

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

I think many would like more choice, but our form of elections (winner takes all, "first past the post" style elections with single member districts) essentially force a 2-party equilibrium

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No-Bat3062@reddit

We think we have democracy, so we pretend like a two party system is totally fine.

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allmediocrevibes@reddit

To simplify a very complex answer, I dont like it at all. This is probably going to get removed for politics btw

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Brilliant_Towel2727@reddit

It's one of those things that's traditional to complain about.

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SuperBeavers1@reddit

Two parties isn't enough to cover all paths of ideology

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Mizerabl@reddit

I don't think it's an appropriate way to represent 330 million people, when other democracies of much smaller populations have much more political parties. also this topic will be locked

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