minor party

Definition of minor party

: a political party whose electoral strength is so small as to prevent its gaining control of a government except in rare and exceptional circumstances

Examples of minor party in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web His last pre-election poll of likely voters, finished Oct. 18, found Biden at 58% and Trump at 32%, with the rest either undecided or supporting minor party candidates. — John Wildermuth, SFChronicle.com, "Pollsters are taking lumps for bad calls in battleground states. In California they’re taking victory laps," 24 Nov. 2020 The remaining third are registered as independents or with a minor party — a group that tends to favor Democratic candidates. — Star Tribune, "Who is voting? Who is winning? Early vote only offers clues," 30 Oct. 2020 Magleby said news of Trump’s taxes may encourage some former McMullin voters to support Biden, a minor party candidate or simply not vote. — Lee Davidson, The Salt Lake Tribune, "For Utahns, impact of Trump tax report may be in the eye of the beholder," 29 Sep. 2020 So far, 56% of the 2020 mail ballot requests are from Democrats, 25% from Republicans and the rest from independent and minor party voters. — Anthony Man, sun-sentinel.com, "Election 'Day’ begins in Florida with millions of ballots heading out to voter mailboxes," 24 Sep. 2020 Only one minor party candidate qualified under the rules: Libertarian hopeful J. Robert Latham in the 2nd Congressional District race will appear with incumbent Rep. Chris Stewart and Democrat Kael Weston. — Dan Harrie, The Salt Lake Tribune, "Utah Debate Commission poll shows McAdams leading Owens," 16 Sep. 2020 Though minor party nominees are likely to attract far fewer votes this year than in 2016, Trump still doesn’t need 50% to win. — Carl P. Leubsdorf Dallas Morning News (tns), Star Tribune, "Trump must finally take these major steps if he hopes to defeat Biden," 26 Aug. 2020 The Green Party is not currently recognized as a minor party in Ohio. — Jackie Borchardt, The Enquirer, "Kanye West fails to make Ohio ballot," 21 Aug. 2020 In 2016, exit polls found that Trump had a major edge with the 14% of voters who disliked both him and Clinton, winning them 69% to 15%, with about 1 in 7 of those voters choosing a minor party candidate. — Emily Larsen, Washington Examiner, "Lack of prominent third-party candidates could benefit Biden more than Trump," 31 July 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'minor party.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

1 Dec 2020

Cite this Entry

“Minor party.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minor%20party. Accessed 17 Jan. 2021.

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