I’ve heard it said 1000 times that the US is 2 party political system, but I just don’t understand what mechanisms push it to be that way? Why are 3rd parties so weak or unlikely?
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In almost all US elections, the person who gets the most votes (not a majority, just the most) wins the election. And, in almost all elections, a voter gets only one vote that is cast for a single candidate.
In a system like that, third parties act as spoilers–if 60% of people hate party X, split their votes between parties A and B, then Party X will win (30% v. 30% v. 40%).
As a result, elections become less about the person you most want to win, and more about voting in a way that causes the person you dislike the most to lose. That means consolidating votes behind one big group that you find less objectionable, and thus a two party system.
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