which of the following statements about the third parties is true? A.Third parties were important historically, but have little relevance today. B.third parties serve to weaken the two main political parties. C.third parties serve to strengthen the two main political parties. D. the republican party was once considered a third party.

In the United States, the political system is essentially bipartisan: although there is no limitation to the number of political parties that can be constituted, the truth is that the electorate does not usually vary from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, which respectively defend liberal and conservative values. Other parties, such as the Green Party or the Libertarian Party to name just a few, do not have absolute electoral relevance and have never accessed positions of political power.

However, third parties have an influential participation in national politics, since many times they put on the board issues under discussion that generate divisions within the predominant parties, or force them to express themselves on controversial issues that may affect public opinion. In this way, these parties can remove voters from the predominant parties, which can affect an election. This happened in the 1992 presidential elections, when Ross Perot, an independent candidate of the extreme right, left a large number of votes to the Republican Party, thus allowing the Democratic victory.