PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are divided as to whether a third major party is needed in U.S. politics today, after having given majority support to the concept in 2011 and 2010. Americans' views today are remarkably similar to what they were in September 2008, before that year's presidential election.

Gallup has asked Americans nine times over the last decade if they think the Republican and Democratic parties do an adequate job of representing the American people, or if they do such a poor job that a third major party is needed.

Support for a third party has varied substantially since Gallup first asked this question in 2003. It was highest in 2007 and 2010, at 58%. In between those peaks, however, support dropped to less than the majority level two months before the 2008 election, as it has in the current survey, conducted Sept. 6-9 -- two months before this year's election. Thus, it may be that in election years -- particularly shortly after the parties' conventions, as was the case for the 2008 and the 2012 surveys -- Americans look more favorably upon the two dominant political parties.

As would be expected, Americans who have the weakest ties to either of the two major parties -- independents -- are consistently more likely to favor having a third party. The current 58% support level among independents, however, is the second lowest on record.

Republicans' and Democrats' support for a third party has fluctuated over the past nine years, but the two groups now have similar views, as they did a year ago. Now, 40% of Democrats support the concept of a third party, compared with 36% of Republicans.

Minimal Support for Third-Party Candidates in the 2012 Election

Although 46% of Americans support the idea of a third party, there is little apparent support for the third-party candidates who are now running for president.

In the current survey, Gallup tested the support for three third-party candidates identified by name and party -- Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Jill Stein (Green Party), and Virgil Goode (Constitution Party) -- and found 1% support for each, with another 1% volunteering another third-party candidate's name.

This is slightly lower support for these candidates than Gallup found in June, when a combined total of less than 5% supported Johnson, Stein, and Goode, with another 3% volunteering the names of other possible third-party candidates. This is an expected pattern because third-party candidate support, as has occurred this year, usually diminishes over the course of the campaign.

In recent decades, the only third-party candidate to receive more than 15% of the vote was Ross Perot, who got 19% in the 1992 election. Gallup's June analysis showed that third-party candidates almost always receive a lower share of the actual vote on Election Day than they do in preference polls when they are included in the list of candidates read to survey respondents.

Implications

Americans generally tend to support the idea that a third major party is needed on the American political scene, although such support today, at 46%, is lower than it has been over the past two years, perhaps because the poll was conducted in a presidential election year, shortly after the Republican and Democratic conventions. Despite Americans' attitudes, no third-party candidate who garners a significant level of support has emerged. The vast majority of votes in this year's Nov. 6 presidential election, it follows, are likely to be cast for either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.