WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) — More than half of Americans surveyed in a new poll said they believe a third major political party is needed to adequately represent their views.
A Gallup survey found 57 percent of those surveyed agreed for the need of a third major political party, a slight increase from the last two presidential election years in 2008 and 2012. This year’s nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have the highest negative polling numbers in modern U.S. history, when pollsters began tracking such statistics.
In the past two elections, Americans were about evenly split at 50 percent on the need for a third party, Gallup said. In those election years, third-party candidates only took about 2 percent of the popular vote. This year, Libertarian Gary Johnson is polling near 10 percent nationally and Green Party candidate Jill Stein has also polled in the low single digits.
Independent voters are the most likely to say they see a need for a third party, with 73 percent saying so in the poll. More than half of Americans, 51 percent, also agreed on the need for a new party. Among Democrats, 43 percent said the same.
The Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 7 to 11. It surveyed 1,020 adults and carries a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
