Can third parties be competitive in US presidential elections?

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the competitive viability of candidacies by third or independent parties for the presidency of the United States with the adopted electoral system, the federal decentralization, the existing legal order for competing and receiving campaign financing, the consequences of gerrymandering, the analysis of legislative behavior and strategic interaction. From a rational institutionalist perspective, the hypothesis defended is that the institutional constraints of the American political system restrict competition to the two main parties, Democratic and Republican, which reinforce this tendency by choosing to interact only with each other.