How accurate is it to describe the USA as having a two-party system

The US political system is widely understood as a two-party system, consisting of the Republican and Democratic Parties. This is supported by many structural factors involved in the US political system. For example, the electoral college and FPTP electoral system makes it extremely difficult for third parties to have a significant effect on general elections. As an example, Ross Perot, who ran as a third-party candidate in the 1992 presidential election, received only 19% of the popular vote, which translated into 0 electoral college votes. Furthermore, the two parties continue to receive massive amounts of campaign funding that severely disadvantages smaller parties. In 2014, the Republican Party raised over $500,000,000. History has shown these structural advantages have prevented third parties influencing Congress as it is only representatives of the Republican and Democratic Parties, alongside a few independents, that maintain control of the Senate and House of Representatives.

On the opposing side, the idea that the USA maintains this system could be regarded as being an overly simplistic description of the American political system. Indeed, the Republicans and Democrats are two opposing parties that maintain a high level of control over the US legislative process, however they can also be understood as having vague party lines which allows for extremely opposing factions to form within the parties themselves. This can be seen particularly within the Republican party, as the moderates and the far-right Tea Party regularly clash regarding fiscal policy and immigration. John McCain, a self-confessed moderate, consistently works with the Democrats to pass significant immigration reform which is regularly rejected by the members of the Tea Party. Furthermore, both parties are extremely de-centralised, and thus are slightly different within each state. For example, Republicans in Texas are far more socially and fiscally Conservative than Republicans in states such as New York.

To conclude, to use a “two party system” as a description for the United States political structure is far too simplistic. While they do have two dominant parties that maintain financial dominance with regards to campaign funding, they are have extremely vague party lines allowing for extremely right wing and left wing politicians to be ever present in both parties. Therefore, while factually accurate the “two party system” description depicts, it does not delve deep enough into the complexity of party politics within the United States.