As is stated every election, voting for a third party is pointless, steals votes from more viable candidates, etc. Certainly, after the 2000 election, people are skittish about voting for third parties if not out right opposed. However, even after the 2000 debacle, 2004 wasn't the worst year for third parties, although it was pretty bad. Every year since 1992, the number of third party votes has declined. Of course, 1992 was an exceptional year, it certainly seems to set a pretty strong trend.
Year - Total Third Party Vote
1992 - 19.55%
1996 - 10.05%
2000 - 3.74%
2004 - 1.00%
According to a regression model I made, this would mean that in 2008, third parties would only get 0.44%. Of course, the third parties do have a few things going for them. For one, the Libertarian Party and Green Party are running former congress members as their candidates. So for once, the third parties are running experienced candidates. Unfortunately, most Libertarians seem disappointed with Bob Barr who is more or less just a Republican and the Green Party candidate is a nutjob whose ability to maintain her seat for 12 years completely shocks me. For those interested, Nader is running again, but I think he'll do worse than he did last time.
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