Two-party system
Third parties, meaning a party other than one of the two dominant parties, are possible in two-party systems, but they are often unlikely to exert much influence by gaining control of legislatures or by winning elections. While there are occasional opinions in the media expressed about the possibility of third parties emerging in the United States, for example, political insiders such as the 1980 presidential candidate John Anderson think the chances of one appearing in the early twenty-first century is remote. A report in "The Guardian" suggested that American politics has been "stuck in a two-way fight between Republicans and Democrats" since the Civil War, and that third-party runs had little meaningful success.
Republicrat
Another usage of the term puts the words together in order to voice the not unheard-of opinion that the two mainstream American political parties are the same with different names. Often, this usage expresses the sentiment of ordinary citizens who see all politicians as serving the same special interests and make little distinction between the two parties.
Earl Killian's U.S. political glossary defines the term as "a portmanteau of the words "Republican" and "Democrat"...used to symbolize the one-party nature of U.S. politics, when it comes to issues on which the dominant parties of the two-party system agree...In this view...Republicrats is then the name of the single U.S. political party, and the Republicans and Democrats are seen as factions of this one-party system, rather than as true independent parties."