Majority of millenials want a third party in US politics, new poll says

The numbers remain fairly constant across race, gender, and current party affiliation

A majority of millennials have called for a third party alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

A new poll suggests that a majority of young people in America want a third party involved in US politics.

The poll shows that 71 per cent of those in their early 20s to mid-30s feel that both the Republican and Democrat parties are doing a bad job representing America.

US President Donald Trump’s abysmal approval ratings in the age group - only 24 per cent either strongly or somewhat approve - and the contentious nature of the 2016 election likely have something to do with the call for challengers.

Forty-six per cent of those surveyed in the research carried out by NBCNews and GenForward - a survey projcted aimed at young people - “strongly disapprove” of the job the president is doing.

However, it could point to overall trend among millennials disliking established political institutions since 65 per cent think “the country is on the wrong track overall”.

Congress seems to be a target of disapproval among 60 per cent of millennials and the Republican party has nearly the same figure.

The Democratic party does slightly better at 42 per cent holding an unfavourable view, but given the party’s historical reliance on younger and urban voters this figure could prove to be far more devastating.

The high percentage of millennials who feel there is a need for a major third party challenge actually holds near constant across existing party affiliation, race, and gender as well - a rare occurrence in political polls.

White men overwhelmingly said - at 80 per cent - said a third party was needed.

White women came in at 70 per cent, lower than other races of women. That demographic was one Hillary Clinton and Democrats thought they had cornered during the 2016 election, however when the polling data came in it was actually Mr Trump who had won them over all across the country.

According to the poll: “Republican women are more likely than Republican men to say that the two major parties do an adequate job representing the people — 45 percent to 22 percent, respectively.”

Independent millennials, those not currently affiliated with either party, were more likely to see the need for a third party challenge at around 75 per cent, but a majority of those associated with the Republican party still saw the need for one at 69 per cent.

The poll was conducted between 26 October - 10 November through the University of Chicago with a representative sample of 1,876 people aged 18-34.