WI america gets 3 party system

After 1900 the only time this could possibly happen is in the 1912 election, but you need to have the Progressives win.

You could have a TL-191-esque rise to preeminence of the Socialist Party; Since the TL-191 Socialist party only truly became a major player in the 20th century, you could technically classify it under After-1900.
 
The N+1 rule says that without a massive overhaul of the US constitution or massive regionalism the US will maintain a two party system, it is simply the most efficient for the US electoral structure
 
The N+1 rule says that without a massive overhaul of the US constitution or massive regionalism the US will maintain a two party system, it is simply the most efficient for the US electoral structure
Ya, what he said.

The Electoral College, especially with winner take all states, really, really makes 3 parties pretty infeasible. Oh, you could certainly have a new party arise and make it to the presidency - but then it either fades away or replaces one of the existing ones.

FPTP systems like Canada and Britain are hard enough on third parties, but if you have some regional variation, things like the LibDems and ScotsNats or NDP and BQ have a fighting chance. They can even take part in the government (formally or informally). In the US, the executive presidency with the election system set up as is, makes that very difficult.

Oh, you could have a regional third party - Dixicrats, say, but they'd have to align with one of the other two in Federal elections, and would therefore pretty much have to be one of them under a separate name (cf CDU and CSU in Germany).
 
Top