<P> During the Third Party System , the Republican Party was the dominant political faction , but the Democrats held a strong , loyal coalition in the Solid South . During the Fourth Party System , the Republicans remained the dominant Presidential party , although Democrats Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson were both elected to two terms . In 1932 , at the onset of the Fifth Party System , Democrats took firm control of national politics with the landslide victories of Franklin D. Roosevelt in four consecutive elections . Other than the two terms of Republican Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961 , Democrats retained firm control of the Presidency until the mid-1960s . Since the mid-1960s , despite a number of landslides ( such as Richard Nixon carrying 49 states and 61 % of the popular vote over George McGovern in 1972 ; Ronald Reagan carrying 49 states and 58 % of the popular vote over Walter Mondale in 1984 ) , Presidential elections have been competitive between the predominant Republican and Democratic parties and no one party has been able to hold the Presidency for more than three consecutive terms , except for the elections from 1932 through 1948 when FDR won 4 elections and Truman one , both as Democrats . In the election of 2012 , only 4 % separated the popular vote between Barack Obama ( 51 % ) and Mitt Romney ( 47 % ) , although Obama won the electoral vote by a landslide ( 332 -- 206 ) . </P>
the current two party system in the united states is defined by which pair of parties
Republican and Democratic parties