Major party

All you want to know about Major party

A major party is a political party that holds substantial influence in a country's politics. This is in contrast with a minor party.

Definition according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Major party: a political party having electoral strength sufficient to permit it to win control of a government usually with comparative regularity and when defeated to constitute the principal opposition to the party in power.

– Merriam-Webster Dictionary online^[1]

Major parties hold a significant percentage of the vote in elections, have more members and memberships than minor parties. Major parties have the most donors, support networks and funding for elections. Their candidates for political positions are closely watched since they have the highest chance of being voted for office because of the high membership, recognition and donations that these parties are able to generate.

In the United States, the major parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, which get most of the votes in elections. Since the American Civil War (1861–1865), only four presidential candidates other than Republicans and Democrats have received over 10% of the popular vote, and one of these was a former president.^[2]

Major parties in the United Kingdom are the Labour Party of former prime minister Tony Blair and the Conservative Party.

In Australia the major parties are the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia. Federally (and in New South Wales) the Liberal Party of Australia is in coalition with the Nationals.

Two major parties can lead to a two-party system. If there is only one major party, then it is a dominant-party system. In a multi-party system, a major party is one that occasionally controls the presidency or premiership and is the most influential party in a coalition government. In some single-party systems, there are minor parties that are allowed to exist but are permanently locked into a coalition with the ruling party.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Merriam-Webster Dictionary online

^ Third-Party Candidates Can Influence U.S. Presidential Elections, America.gov, 20 August 2007.

Third-Party Presidential Candidates, 1832-1996
Third-party candidates who received more than the historical average of 5.6 percent of the popular vote are listed below.
Year	Party	Candidate	Popular Vote %	Electoral Votes	Outcome in Next Election
1996	Reform	H. Ross Perot	8.4	0	Did not run; endorsed Republican candidate George W. Bush
1992	Independent	H. Ross Perot	18.9	0	Ran as Reform Party candidate
1980	Independent	John B. Anderson	6.6	0	Did not run
1968	American Independent	George C. Wallace	13.5	46	Won 1.4 percent of the popular vote
1924	Progressive	Robert M. La Follette	16.6	13	Returned to Republican Party
1912	Progressive ("Bull Moose")	Theodore Roosevelt	27.4	88	Returned to Republican Party
1912	Socialist	Eugene V. Debs	6	0	Won 3.2 percent of the popular vote
1892	Populist	James B. Weaver	8.5	22	Endorsed Democratic candidate
1860	Constitutional Union	John Bell	12.6	39	Party dissolved
1860	Southern Democrats	John C. Breckinridge	18.1	72	Party dissolved
1856	American ("Know-Nothing")	Millard Fillmore	21.5	8	Party dissolved
1848	Free Soil	Martin Van Buren	10.1	0	Won 4.9 percent of the vote
1832	Anti-Masonic	William Wirt	7.7	7	Endorsed Whig candidate
Percentages in bold are those over 10% in elections since 1860.