Allowing a third party into the American political system is like if the U . S . decided to fight Canada and Mexico at the same time might actually after Trump gets in office . The two parties benefit enornously from lack of competition . They get more money from lobbyists , they can simplify complex issues like you pointed out to keep the public from having too much choice , they narrow their competition during elections , I could go on and on . It is basically a massive benefit to only have one other party as competition . To top that the two parties work together to ensure that more options , legally or otherwise , are never available to vote for . The simplest example is the Electoral College , which requires the candidate to acquire 170 Electoral votes to become President . A successful third party would basically ensure that no Presidential candidate could ever reach that number when split three ways , and Republicans and Democrats have applied this principle to every level of government . You CAN vote for a third party or independent candidate , but in all but state and local elections your vote is essentially pointless . Yes you can draw votes away from the major parties , but voting independent or third party is essentially a wasted vote . And for the record I am not trying to trash any outsode parties , I think lack of choice is a huge contributor to the problems in American government . The system is just set up against them , it is incredibly biased towards helping the major two parties keep a certain level of power .