Third parties rarely win in presidential elections because the Republican and Democratic parties have long dominated the American political landscape. Since 1856, every president elected by U.S. voters has belonged to one of those two parties. Almost every state's governor, members of Congress, and state legislators are also members of these two political groups. But they are not the only political parties active in the United States. There are more than 30 others, which are referred …showed first 75 words of 1004 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1004 total…platform. This happened to George Wallace when Richard Nixon launched his "Southern Strategy" wooing Wallace voters over to the Republican Party. Third parties tend to be temporary, regional and insignificant facing considerable difficulties, so technically in terms of winning the presidency third parties are, in fact, doomed to failure. However, although they are electoral failures, they may occasionally wield political power in affecting both electoral outcomes and policy agendas, so are possibly not complete failures.