Voters say they want a new political party. Will Forward be it?

Like Coke and Pepsi, the Democratic and Republican parties bestride the U.S. political marketplace. But their customers – the voting public – aren’t exactly thrilled at their choices. According to Gallup, 62% of voters say neither of the two major parties adequately represent the American people. More voters now identify as independents than as Democrats or Republicans. 

Meanwhile, a surge in political extremism, particularly on the right, has alarmed scholars of democracy who warn that politicians are pandering to partisans and abandoning the center. In part that’s because so few districts are competitive anymore, and most elections are decided by primaries, where moderation is rarely rewarded. 

Is it time for a new national party? And haven’t we seen this movie before? 

The latest aspirant is the Forward Party. Launched last month, the party is being led by Andrew Yang, a former Democratic presidential hopeful, and Christine Todd Whitman, former Republican governor of New Jersey. Its pitch is that most voters want pragmatism not partisanship and that the current duopoly isn’t up to the task.

“There’s a tremendous amount of common ground” in policymaking, says Joel Searby, the party’s national director. “But it’s not advanced because the extremes grab the conversations.” 

Skeptics say the electoral system – single-member districts won by a plurality – is stacked against third parties, which is why they barely register at election time. Nor does voters’ stated independence translate into a winnable bloc since most in fact have a partisan lean, even if they don’t identify as Republicans or Democrats. The major parties also enjoy a huge head start in organizing and fundraising. In some states, simply getting on the ballot is a challenge. 

Then there’s the problem of spoilers in presidential elections. Minor candidates are more likely to siphon support from one side and hand victory to the other, thus installing a minority vote-getter. 

History shows that new parties can emerge and shake up the status quo, says Bernard Tamas, an associate professor of politics at Valdosta State University in Georgia. It happened before and could happen again, particularly in an era of polarization and dysfunction. “Third parties have the capacity to throw a monkey wrench in the system,” he says. 

But such parties also tend to “sting and die” like bees after their electoral victories force a course correction by larger parties, says Professor Tamas, author of “The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties.” This is how the Republicans and Democrats absorbed the challenge from Progressive candidates in the early 20th century. 

The Forward Party says it seeks to “cut out the extreme partisanship, reintroduce a competition of ideas, and work together in good faith.” But it offers no prescription for social or economic policy, nor any vision of America’s role in the world. 

Mr. Searby says that’s intentional – and that its members will get to decide on a national platform. Party leaders will hold an official launch in Houston in September followed by a national convention in 2023. The goal is to get candidates on the ballot in all 50 states by 2024. 

Whatever platform is adopted will be flexible, as policies that work in some states or cities won’t work in others. “It’s a new kind of politics and policymaking,” says Mr. Searby. “We’re building this party from the ground up.” 

That flexible approach doesn’t convince everyone. Matthew Shugart, a political scientist at the University of California, Davis, says that parties typically organize around a social or economic interest. But Mr. Yang “has asked us to ‘imagine’ a political party with no ideology and no special interest ties. ... That’s just not how successful political parties are built,” he says via email.  

Where the Forward Party fits on the left-right political continuum is unclear. Mr. Searby says he’s heard from both alienated Republicans and Democrats in search of middle ground, though he argues that extremism on the right presents a greater danger to democracy.

Most voters associate third-party candidates with presidential runs: Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in 2000. In 2016, Mr. Searby was an adviser to Evan McMullin, an independent who ran as a Never-Trump candidate; Mr. McMullin is running this year for the U.S. Senate in Utah. 

By contrast, the Forward Party is initially focused on finding and supporting candidates for local and state elected positions, not a presidential run. “We’re not going to show up in 2024 and compete with the two main parties,” says Mr. Searby. 

In recent years, billionaires such as Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg have flirted with independent presidential runs; Mr. Bloomberg, a former New York mayor, wound up seeking the Democratic nomination. Both presented themselves as problem-solving pragmatists who leaned right on fiscal matters and left on cultural issues, broadly in tune with their social peers. 

But that probably isn’t the best combination for a viable third party, says Jack Santucci, a political scientist at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “Most Americans are left on economics and right on social issues,” he says. 

One set of issues the Forward Party does advocate is ranked choice voting, open primaries, and other reforms to “give Americans more choices in elections,” its website says. These innovations are already happening in states like Alaska and Maine and are popular with young voters, says Professor Santucci. And these electoral reforms could outlive whatever else the new party does, in terms of shaking up the duopoly that is the two-party system. 

“The Forward Party is more likely to succeed at popularizing anti-party reform than at electing its own candidates,” he says.