I wish they were more effective. Our system is specifically designed to make it tough. Once you get beyond two parties, it gets dicey. However, the two parties (GOP + Democrat) are no longer political parties how we understand them. They are like cartels or conglomerates who control, sell and buy political space and control. The GOP right now is a mish mash of several third parties. One is MAGA. Then there are the traditional conservatives and some libertarians. There is also the TEA Party who are mostly MAGA now. They were fighting it out in 2016 but the old GOP party lost bad. Some are still in, most have gone off the grid so to speak. They will likely vote for Trump. But they won't be public about it. The Democrats have the Liberal wing, the neoliberals (the DLC folks), Progressives, Green Party, Democratic Socialist, and likely some other political parties. They can't win the election for President or statewide seats but they are getting candidates elected to city and state offices. The candidates run under the Democrat banner. But they aren't Democrats. Bernie Sanders, AOC, Raskin, Nina Turner, are some of the well known folks. But there are others.