What success have third parties had through direct influence?

- The spoiler effect - In 2000, the Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader, may have prevented Al Gore from winning against Bush by taking votes away from him - Nader received 97,000 votes in Florida - Gore lost by 537 - Influencing the policy of the Democratic and Republican parties - while Ross Perot failed to win the presidency, his popular economic policy of a balanced budget was embraced by the Republicans and accepted by Bill Clinton - Perot's policy was successfully executed - Infiltrating the 2 main parties, using primaries to gain prominence within a party - arguably, Trump is an example of a successful third-party candidate, using the Republican primaries to run under their banner, even though the Republican establishment opposed his bid