Earlier this month, Elon Musk said he wanted to form a new political party. He had been giving the idea since he collided with President Donald Trump about his “great and beautiful bill,” why Musk coined to exploit the deficit. In June, Musk conducted a survey in X by asking users if it was “the time to create a new political party in the United States that represent 80% in the middle.” More than 5 million people responded and 80 percent voted. Then, on July 5, Musk announced that he was forming the American party in the hope of giving voters their “back [their] Freedom. “
Those who follow Musk closely, such as Bloomberg Businessweek’s national correspondent, Joshua Green, have said that Musk’s last project is in line with his search for political power and attention.
“I think Essentially has bought it with the support of Donald Trump for a sum of $ 300 million in the last elections,” Green said previously in Today, explained. “And Trump turned against him, expelled him, removed his tax credits from EV, did not cut the deficit, shattered it on social networks. And now I think Elon is humiliated and looking for a way to respond and return the blow.”
Trump has called the proposal of third parties of Musk “ridicule.” And the billionaire seemed to have moved from his third obsession in mid-July and less in the introduced X-posting on the fertility rate of Europe and the control of damage for the anti-Semitic diatribes of his AI Grok platform.
But regardless of Wheter, it follows the “América Party”, Musk seems to have reached a chord with an American electorate disappointed by the bipartisan system.
In Today, explainedNoel King Coanfrerion launched the desires of voters, the history of third parties and the possible solutions to the bipartisan domain with Lee Druutman, a senior member of New America Think Tank and author of Breaking the two party loop of the party: The case of multiparty democracy in the United States.
Below is an extract of its conversation, edited by length and clarity. There is much more in the complete episode, so listen Today, explained Wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora and Spotify.
You are not a great admirer of the bipartisan system.
You know, I think he has survived plility. I think the United States is a fairly large and diverse field thesis day, you may have noticed. And fit everyone in just two parties seems to be a child of madness, and clearly does not work. In addition, this country has divided into two teams, the red and blue team, which have learned to hate themselves absolutely. Artificial divisions were created around this zero -sum electoral policy, winner, everything that is really breaking down the foundations of democracy in this country. So, I think there was a time when it worked reasonably well for certain reasons, but that time is in the past.
You will know that Elon Musk agrees with you. They say they hey to start a third. Hey ran one of his surveys [on X]And the question was: “Is it time to create a new political party in the United States that real representatives 80% in the middle? “I’m looking at that survey now.
Well, there are two parts in that question. One is: how many people because a third party? And then two are: how many people want that party to be somewhere in the middle?
Now, the first part: how many people do a third party want? That 80 percent is a little high. There may be some selection bias there, but it is close to the surveys I have seen. In general, around 60 to 70 percent of Americans say there should be more than two parts when they survey. So, too much for Americans, Americans say they want more than two parties.
Now, is it the party you want a party in the center? That is less clear. I think the perception of the people of the political center depends on themselves. [Most] People think they are more reasonable and that they are more models. But in reality, when you look at the views of the American electorate, as I have done repeatedly, you see support for a genuine central party is limited to 10 to 15 percent. But there is much interest in parties that may not be so traditional.
Candidates for third parties do He runs for a position all the time in the United States, they rarely win. If so many voters want more options, why don’t we have more people in chosen third -party positions?
Here is pressing the central problem, which we have a single winner’s election system. Then, in a single winner’s choice, third parties become spoilers and wasted votes, because one of the two main games will win everything. So, voting for a third party is basically a protest vote, or maybe I could spoil the elections. And as a result, most people don’t want to do that because they are thinking, Well, I want to vote for someone who at least has the opportunity to win. And, more importantly, people who have ambition in politics say, Well, I’m not going to waste my time with one of these marginal parties. I want to win. Then you get smaller parties that are mostly cranks, rare and people say: Well, I would like to vote for another game, but not That Third.
What is the recent history of third -party candidates? Serious third -party candidates nationwide? I have a lazy memory of Ross Perot, but I couldn’t give you many details. They were the nineties. How serious have the leg of third -party candidates had over time?
Well, Ross Perot is the third -party candidate more recently to obtain a fairly decent part of the elected. He obtained almost 20 percent of the electorate, although he did not win a single state. Many people remember Ralph more in 2000, who only obtained 3 percent of the votes, but it was 3 percent very well located because the votes were more than the difference between Bush and Gore in Florida and some other states.
Before that, you had George Wallace in 1968 in the American Independent Party as a kind of “preservation segregation” platform. And then in 1912, you have Teddy Roosevelt running like a Third Toro candidate. [He] He was the most successful third party candidate. Or of course, he had already been president. So periodically he has had third -party challenges at the presidential level. At the camera and the Senate, you have some people who run as independent. But people tend to go to the presidency because that creates a level of visibility if they are trying to build a party.
If one thinks that the bipartisan system is a problem, let’s talk about solutions. You advocate something called Proportional representation. Explain what it is and why you think it could be a solution here.
Well, proportional representation is the most common voting system, and basically, at its simplest level, it means that the parties obtain seat actions in proportion to what percentage of vote they obtain. So, if a party gets 30 percent of the watts, it is obtained. If you get 10 percent, get 10 percent. Now, there are varieties of proportional representation that we could spend an hour in weeds.
Tell me the one you like the most. What would work in the United States?
What I think would work in the US. It is probably the most used version, which is called the proportional representation of the open list with districts of several members, which is instead of having a single district with a single rephantive, it has. The district is larger, and then the parties present lists of candidates. You choose the candidate of the party you like, all the votes for each party are set, and then the seats are assigned in proportion. So, if a party obtains 40 percent of the votes in that district of five members, its two main candidates will represent the district. If a party gets 20 percent, it is the main candidate [goes]. Then, in theory, I could have five games that represent the same district.
“We never had this level of dissatisfaction with the bipartisan system since we have surveys in the sea.”
We talk a lot about Gerrymeering as a big problem, and it is. But [if] You move to five proportional districts of members, Gerrymandering becomes irrelevant. It doesn’t matter because the votes will be assigned proportionally no matter what. So, everyone can cast a significant vote because each seat matters. Each seat is competitive. Each vote matters. The electoral reform is the most powerful tool we have.
So, at the end of the day, Elon Musk has done something admirable here [by] Make this a child conversation issue or a real way?
Yes. So, I think that by raising the issue of the need for a third party, it certainly opens a conversation about what would be needed. I am not sure that Elon’s approach is successful. On the other hand, if it is strategic and chickens to spoil some careers that will determine the control of the camera and the Senate when executing a spoiler candidate, then that is really what has led to a broader conversation about the electoral reform. And that is one of the reasons why many countries moved to the electoral reform.
We never had this level of dissatisfaction with the bipartisan system since we have seen surveys. Therefore, there is a real understanding that what we are doing in our electoral system simply does not work.