In America, there are only two significant parties, unlike most other western nations which have the democratic vote, which are known as the Democratic party and the Republican party. All the other parties in America, have zero national influence upon the nation and therefore those that are part and parcel of those third parties, no matter how much effort that they and their party members put forth to grow in significance, find such to basically be futile on a national scale at the present time.
The fact that there are so many third parties, and the fact that these third parties, despite often having a low budget as well as poor press and media coverage, are still able to secure some votes, is to their credit; for they prove the point that the two major parties aren’t necessarily always the preferred choice of Americans, especially for those Americans that feel that their issues, concerns, and agendas are effectively being ignored.
For the most part, about the only time that third-party candidates achieve any success, whatsoever, is when those candidates either have very deep pockets, or are a very well-known personage, or both. For instance, New York City is the most important city in the United States, of which, typically the only person that could win that election would either be the Democratic or the Republican candidate, and often in recent years, just based upon the demographics of New York City, this would typically be the Democratic candidate, since registered Democrats in New York City, are massively higher in number than Republicans.
Not so long ago, but long enough ago, John Lindsay of NYC, was running for re-election as Mayor in 1969, under the Republican ticket, of which, Lindsay was proud to represent himself as a liberal Republican, which in today’s America, sounds like an oxymoron; but liberal he was. However, because he was running on the Republican ticket, he was defeated in the 1969 Republican primary, by a fellow Republican who essentially ran under the law-and-order ticket, which resonated with enough Republicans of NYC that he defeated Lindsay for the Republican nomination. One would think, then, that in a two-party system, that therefore all was lost for Lindsay, but it has to be remembered, that Lindsay was still the current Mayor, and therefore had all incumbent powers as well as the recognition of being that, Mayor; in addition to the fact, that his liberal credentials, which helped get him elected in the first place, basically trumped his party affiliation. So then, Lindsay, received the funding, the endorsements, and thereby ran as a third-party candidate under the “Liberal” party platform ticket, in which, he secured enough votes from disaffected Democrats as well as liberal Republicans to thereby get re-elected as Mayor.
All of the above serves to point out that the few times that third parties are successful in America, has an awful lot to do with that particular person so running, having thereby the name recognition, the money, as well as the appropriate connections with powerful organizations, to overcome the massive handicap of being on a third-party ticket to begin with. So then, the success of third-party candidates, has typically not a lot to do with a particular third-party platform, and just about everything to do with the actual person so running and the cult of following just that one.