‘Unrepresentative of reality’: Yang pushes for more political parties to crush duopoly

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang banged against the political duopoly in the United States, surmising that “five or six” major political parties would ease the country’s deep-root polarization.

Blaming Republicans and Democrats for pitting people against one another in “opposing tribes,” Yang iterated his long-standing contention that additional parties could ease the divide ailing the country during an interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo.

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“We actually have two minority parties that are running everything and driving us all crazy by trying to inflame us against each other,” Yang said. “Right now, you have this two-party system that is increasingly unrepresentative of reality.”

Yang unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020 and then for New York City mayor in 2021 as a Democrat. After his loss in the Big Apple, he founded the Forward Party, which touts a loose political platform and seeks to bridge partisan lines by cultivating support for electoral reforms in order to make the U.S. suitable for third parties such as ranked-choice voting.

Tensions between the two sides have been high in recent years and so has the appetite for an alternative to Republicans and Democrats. Roughly 43% of people in the United States consider themselves independents, eclipsing the 30% who identify as Republicans and 24% as Democrats, per a recent Gallup poll.

Interest in a third party appears to have waned since reaching an all-time high of 62% last year, according to Gallup. Now 56% of people in the U.S. favor a third party, per Gallup. Still, Yang is keen on the development of more parties, warning there is a sense that “democracy is hanging by a thread.”

“There should be another party in the middle, maybe the forward party, and then that gets you to five, maybe you could have a six or a seven, but that would be a more representative, rational, sustainable system that’s resistant to authoritarianism,” he added.

Cuomo pressed Yang on the lack of policies in the Forward Party’s platform, but Yang insisted his party backs three things: “free people, thriving communities, and a vibrant democracy.”

“My goal is to build this party into something that can actually transform and improve our politics over the long haul so I’m focused on institution building, which has been a lot of fun,” he said.

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Cuomo debuted his new show that bears his last name on NewsNation earlier this week. The show has drawn lower ratings than he enjoyed during his tenure at CNN.

CNN fired Cuomo for his role in assisting his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, navigate the firestorm surrounding sexual misconduct allegations. He has since sued his old network and argued that his NewsNation tenure “will be different.”