If Americans want change, why do the voters demonstrate a lack of proclivity to support the 3rd party?

[Will]

It's complicated...

1. Marketing.

People choose products with which they're familiar. People don't know third parties and therefore tend to shy away from them.

2. Election Method.

The USA does not have Proportional Representation; it has a Single Member District Plurality (SMDP) style of election. This means that in a crowded field, the winner is the one who gets the largest number of votes, whether or not that person gets a majority. These election systems punish third parties.

3. Political Realism.

By and large, the American voter does not like to throw away a vote on a third party. Some people (yourself included) see their vote as a form of protest; but most people don't see it that way. They want their vote to count, and so they ask which of the major party candidates has a message that's close enough to what the voters wants, and then they choose that person.

4. Lack of Coherent Message.

Let's face it, what's out there as a viable third party these days? The messages we get from third parties tend to be narrow, cramped and ideological. As stated above, Americans are political realists, not idealists. They vote on bread and butter issues, and they're not moved by the ideological siren songs of the third parties (Greens, Libertarians, etc, etc). The success of the two major parties, in large measure, is because they attempt to address these issues. Do they do so successfully? Well, not really in terms of policy output; but they're the only games in town even speaking in those terms.

If a third party is going to be successful in attracting votes it needs to conform to the overall issue base of the majority of voters and it needs to be galvanized by a charismatic leader of national appeal.

The demographics are clear on this. Most Americans are fiscal Conservatives and social Liberals. Unfortunately, this is why Neither party can satisfy the voting public.

Create a new national based party dedicated to tight fiscal policy, and keeping government out of people's bedrooms, and then, find a nationally known charismatic figure with actual street-cred, and you've got a combination that will blow the other two parties out of the water. I'm convinced of it.