<P> In the 58 presidential elections since 1788 , third party or independent candidates have won at least 5.0 % of the vote or garnered electoral votes 12 times ( 21 % ) ; this does not count George Washington , who was elected as an independent in 1788 -- 1789 and 1792 , but who largely supported Federalist policies and was supported by Federalists . Occasionally , a third party becomes one of the two major parties through a presidential election ( the last time it happened was in 1856 , when the Republicans supplanted the Whigs , who had withered and endorsed the ticket of the American Party ) : such an election is called a realigning election , as it causes a realignment in the party system ; according to scholars , there have been six party systems so far . Only once one of the two major parties came third in an election , but that did not cause a realignment ( in 1912 the Progressive Party surpassed the Republicans , but the party quickly disappeared and the Republicans re-gained their major party status ) . The last third party candidate to win one or more states was George Wallace of the American Independent Party in 1968 , while the most recent third party candidate to win more than 5.0 % of the vote was Ross Perot , who ran as an independent and as the standard - bearer of the Reform Party in 1992 and 1996 , respectively . </P>
<P> In the 58 presidential elections since 1788 , third party or independent candidates have won at least 5.0 % of the vote or garnered electoral votes 12 times ( 21 % ) ; this does not count George Washington , who was elected as an independent in 1788 -- 1789 and 1792 , but who largely supported Federalist policies and was supported by Federalists . Occasionally , a third party becomes one of the two major parties through a presidential election ( the last time it happened was in 1856 , when the Republicans supplanted the Whigs , who had withered and endorsed the ticket of the American Party ) : such an election is called a realigning election , as it causes a realignment in the party system ; according to scholars , there have been six party systems so far . Only once one of the two major parties came third in an election , but that did not cause a realignment ( in 1912 the Progressive Party surpassed the Republicans , but the party quickly disappeared and the Republicans re-gained their major party status ) . The last third party candidate to win one or more states was George Wallace of the American Independent Party in 1968 , while the most recent third party candidate to win more than 5.0 % of the vote was Ross Perot , who ran as an independent and as the standard - bearer of the Reform Party in 1992 and 1996 , respectively . </P>
when was the last election that a 3rd party candidate won a significant number of states
when was the last election that a 3rd party candidate won a significant number of states
1968
1968