Election 2004: Looking back at political parties and symbols

Two-party system

The United States practices a "two-party system" represented by the Democratic and Republican parties. While many other political parties have formed over the years, only once in a presidential election in U.S. history has a third party gained more than 25 percent of the popular vote. When Theodore Roosevelt ran for a third term in 1912, his Progressive or Bull Moose Party received 27.4 percent of the vote.

The country didn't have a two-party system at first. The Constitution doesn't mention political parties, and only one party existed when George Washington was elected. It soon became obvious that there would be enough differences among the citizen politicians who were creating the democratic experiment that they would split into two or more groups.

The Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were the first two parties organized to support candidates for president and for vice president. The Federalists were led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, who became the second president following Washington's refusal to run for a third term. The Democratic-Republicans were led by Thomas Jefferson, who was elected as our third president in 1800.

Democrats and Republicans

The political parties that exist today were formed during the 1800s. The Democrats trace their heritage to the group that formed after the 1824 election to seek and win the presidency for Andrew Jackson in 1828. The Republican Party started as an anti-slavery political organization before the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president in 1860.

Before the 1800s, the vice president was the person who received the second-highest number of votes in the election. The president and vice president didn't always agree, however; so after political parties were formed, two candidates ran as a team from each party, as they do today.

Third parties

While third political parties have lacked the strength to win the presidency, the number of people who call themselves "independent" when they register to vote doubled in 50 years, from 16 percent to 31 percent of the voters, and other parties seem to be growing. Ross Perot's broad support for the presidency in 1992 and Ralph Nader's candidacy in 2004 illustrate the decline of the population's loyalty to a particular party.

The donkey and the elephant