Analyze the role of third parties in the American political system.Your essay should consider the following: (1)the reasons that third parties arise; (2)the reasons why a three-party system has not emerged in the United States; and (3)some of the more notable third-party presidential candidates in American history.

There are three components to this question.
a.The reasons that third parties arise: Typically,third parties in the United States have represented social and economic interests that for one or another reason were not given voice by the two major parties.
b.The reasons why there is not a three-party system in the United States: Third-party prospects are hampered by America's electoral system.Many nations have proportional representation.Under this kind of system,many competing political parties field multiple candidates in each district and are awarded legislative seats in rough proportion to the percentage of popular votes that each party wins.A party that wins,say,20 percent of the popular vote receives roughly 20 percent of the seats in the parliament or other representative body.Unlike a plurality system,a party's candidates need not come in first to win seats.In the United States,state ballot-access laws are also often a major impediment for third parties,imposing barriers such as registration fees or petition requirements in which a certain number of voters must sign a petition for a third-party or independent candidate to gain ballot access.
c.Notable third-party presidential candidates: H.Ross Perot,who ran in 1992 as an independent and in 1996 as the Reform Party's nominee,won the votes of almost one in five Americans.In the extremely close 2000 presidential election,third-party candidate Ralph Nader won just 3 percent of the popular vote,but that split the Democratic vote enough to swing the election to Republican George W.Bush.Third-party candidates fared better in 2016 than in the last three presidential elections,leading some observers to suggest that third parties were one reason why Hillary Clinton lost key battleground states and thus the election.