The former President Teddy Roosevelt was the most successful third party presidential candidate in the history of the country when he gained 88 Electoral votes and 27% of the popular vote in the election on behalf of the Progressive Party of the United States In the 1912.
The most recent third party candidate to win more than 5.0% of the vote was Ross Perot, who ran as an independent and as the standard-bearer of the Reform Party in 1992 and 1996.