On this episode: The assassination attempt on Donald Trump and President Joe Biden dropping out of the race for the White House–two history-shattering events in the span of eight days–have firmly pushed the minor party presidential candidates out of the conversation for the time being. 

What impact might they have as we move closer to election day, and what sort of laws and tactics factor into how competitive they can actually be as candidates? 

Barry Burden, a professor of American politics at the University of Wisconsin–joins the show to unpack the current field of noteworthy minor party candidates, the various challenges to getting their names on the ballot, how major parties co-opt their platforms and policies, and how we ended up with a political system dominated by two parties.  

Read Burden’s recent work on the role third parties will play this November: https://theconversation.com/third-parties-will-affect-the-2024-campaigns-but-election-laws-written-by-democrats-and-republicans-will-prevent-them-from-winning-226877

Follow Burden on X: https://X.com/bcburden 

On the race for the White House: https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election,_2024 

Learn more about the major third party and independent candidates below:

–https://ballotpedia.org/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.

–https://ballotpedia.org/Jill_Stein 

–https://ballotpedia.org/Chase_Oliver 

–https://ballotpedia.org/Cornel_West 

Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates 

Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia.

*On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.