Question

Why does the United States have a two-party system?

Answer 1

Two-party system, parliamentary system in which the two major parties are given their votes by the voters and in which one or the other party will gain a majority in the legislature. The United States is a classic example of a two-party government. There is also an misunderstanding of the comparisons between two-party and multiparty regimes. Many groups are fighting for influence inside every major party in the United States, the Republicans and the Democrats. The emergence of divergent interests within the umbrella of a single party hides a cycle of conflict and compromise that is out in the open under a multiparty structure.

Big favorable reasons for the two-party system are the use of single-member districts to elect representatives, the presidential system, and the lack of proportional representation. Members of the National Representative Assemblies in Great Britain and the United States are chosen from single-member districts, and the winner is the candidate receiving the highest number of votes. Such an electoral system compels a faction in a district or other electoral region to compete for a majority of the votes.

Generally only two relatively equally matched parties in a single-member district can effectively run for office, and a third party faces repeated loss unless it can swallow one of the other parties. Under the certainty of loss the groups are not flourishing. A third party can have a large common following and only gain a few seats within the legislative body. With 20 per cent of the popular vote distributed equally over a whole country, for example, such a party will not win a single seat. For example, the rise of the Labor Party in Britain practically robbed the Liberal Party of parliamentary seats even though it had a significant follower in the mainstream.