Story by Annika Grassl
Some people in America today are becoming frustrated with the current political division between Democrats and Republicans within the nation’s government system.
This aggravated attitude from the American public leads some of its young voters to believe that there are a variety of third political parties emerging in today’s extremely divided political atmosphere.
“Americans are not happy with current party system and the divisions it has created between its two most well known parties,the Democrats and Republicans,” said first-year Haley Barbour.
“The current third political parties who are popping up across the United States have no strong intentions or motivation to gain as much power as the Democrats or Republican parties hold today. These new parties are just hoping that the Democrats and Republicans will find at least some common ground with their own views and beliefs in order to eventually begin to incorporate some of the ideas of these third parties into the ideas of their own parties,”
Barbour believes two political parties are increasing their prescence.
“The Tea Party and libertarian parties are both gaining strength in today’s political atmosphere, although the Green Party has not experienced this much growth in popularity in recent years.”
First-year law, politics and society major Nate Moysten feels that the current parties will expand.
“I believe the new parties will be folded into current parties or simple disregarded as a basis for political ideals all together because there isn’t enough support for their stance on hot topic issues,” Moysten said.
Moysten and Barbour agreed that Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is a major leading force in the Tea Party and trying to revive this major third-party movement in the United States today.
First-year student Daniel Gould said that third parties are gaining attention.
“The Democratic and Republican parties are still strong, but these third parties are gaining in popularity which leads the Democrats and Republicans in a position where they have to work harder in order to gain the support of the American public,” Gould said. “They need to focus on the issues that matter to every day Americans and make sure that they align themselves with the views of their constituents.”
Moysten said he feels that the growing political parties are noticeable.
“The major political parties that we are used to today are now noticing these emerging parties and the influence that they are beginning to have on the American public.
Moysten said he thinks that the recognition is postive
This realization is encouraging the Republican and Democratic parties to try and keep these emerging parties around in order to keep people more people involved in American politics,” Moysten said. “It would be smart if Democrats had more libertarian views, then their approach to the issues would be more widely accepted by the American public.”
