Much Ado About Nothing: The Birth, Life, and Death of the No Labels Party in a Purple State

The No Labels Party emerged with claims that it could interrupt the traditional two-party system in the United States. The political science literature on third parties would seem to challenge this assertion, highlighting the difficulty of altering the party ecosystem. In this article we use behavioral and attitudinal data to better understand the life cycle of the No Labels Party in North Carolina. We find that, although it became the second-largest third party (after the Libertarian Party), it struggled to gain and maintain party membership. The plurality of party switchers to the No Labels Party come from the ranks of Unaffiliated, not from the two major parties. Further, attitudinal data reveal that North Carolinians were largely uninformed and agnostic about No Labels. In the end, the No Labels Party’s demise was easily predicted. Despite a rise in independent/unaffiliated party registrants and identifiers, the two-party system is here to stay.