Īccording to the 2017 edition of The Logic of American Politics, 'a sixth party system is now in place.' Although the precise starting date is a matter of debate, 'the most salient difference between the current and New Deal party systems is the Republican Party's increased strength, exemplified by 20 majorities in the house and senate in six straight elections (1994–2004), unprecedented since the fourth party system, retaking of the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014 and its sweeping national victory in 2016.' Such a shift took place between 20 in favor of the Democrats, but the Republicans won the elections of 2010 by their biggest landslide since 1946 and finished the 2014 elections with their greatest number of House seats since 1928. Previous party systems ended with the dominant party losing two consecutive House elections by large margins, and also losing a presidential election coinciding with or immediately following the second House election, which are decisive electoral evidence of political realignment, as it happened in the 1896 election.

Other current writing on the Fifth Party System expresses admiration of its longevity, as the first four systems lasted about 30 to 40 years each, which would have implied that the early 21st century should see a Seventh Party System. In 2006, Arthur Paulson argued that a decisive realignment took place in the late 1960s. Much of the work published on the subject has come from political scientists explaining the events of their time either as the imminent breakup of the Fifth Party System, and the installation of a new one, or in terms of such transition taking place some time ago. No clear disciplinary consensus has emerged pinpointing an electoral event responsible for shifting presidential and congressional control since the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the Fifth Party System emerged. A critical factor was the major transformation of the political system in the Reagan Era of the 1980s and beyond. The Sixth Party System is characterized by an electoral shift from the electoral coalitions of the Fifth Party System during the New Deal, when the Republican Party became the dominant party in the South, rural areas, and suburbs, while the Democratic Party increasingly started to assemble a coalition of African Americans, Latinos, and white urban progressives.

Six party quiz