Effects Of Theodore Roosevelt On The Election Of 1912

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Our political system is comprised of a two party system that has existed since our country's inception. While the Democrats and Republicans are the dominant parties, there are third-parties such as the Libertarians, the Tea Party, the Green Party and many others. While they are small and a third party candidate has never won a presidential election, they can have a significant effect on the outcome. Such examples include the Elections of 1912 and 1992, two years in which the election was changed by the actions of a third party candidate. This also applies to our current presidential election in which one of the Republican frontrunners, Donald Trump, has vowed to run as a third party candidate if he feels mistreated. By examining the presidential elections of 1912 and 1992, it can speculated that he will have an effect on the coming presidential election. …show more content…

The progressive Republicans favored more governmental regulations while conservative Republicans supported limited government intervention. Taft, the incumbent president, was more conservative and won the votes of more Republican Party delegates. As a result, Roosevelt lost the nomination. This led him to form his own political party, the Progressive Party, also known as the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt was a very popular candidate due to his ideas and this resulted in a splitting of the Republican votes. In the end, Roosevelt won 27.4 percent of the popular vote while Taft won 23.2 percent. This allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the general election overwhelmingly with 41.9 percent of the popular vote (Flash Focus). Roosevelt's actions changed the outcome of the election as well as created a dramatically different future than would have been seen under