According to SurveyMonkey’s tracking poll, almost half of Johnson and Stein’s supporters give themselves a 50-50 or lower chance of actually voting for those candidates, and only about two-thirds of each candidate’s backers are certain that they’ll vote at all.
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Guest columnist, a recent high school graduate, writes that a “large percentage of the youth vote” is going for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, stating that “more than one in five plan to vote for Johnson”.
Still, Johnson and Stein remain lesser-known than almost all of the Republican presidential hopefuls were in the beginning of January.
The debates begin Sept 26 at Hofstra University in NY. That’s a stretch, but still: If the Republicans were willing to hear from 10 candidates at the first primary debate last summer (with seven more appearing at a prior forum), then let’s respect the wishes of a dissatisfied electorate and open up the first general election debate to Johnson.
If he can’t secure 15 percent support before the first debate, he says it’s game over. Ross Perot, who joined the debates in 1992, won 19 percent of the vote that year.
Regardless of whether he makes it to the big debate stage, Johnson told The New York Times that he believes Donald Trump’s candidacy has changed American politics irrevocably. “And I’m going to lecture him mercilessly about his youthful foibles”.
Many interviewed Saturday were attending their first third-party rally, saying they wanted more voices in American politics after a hard presidential race which has loosened their traditional political moorings.
Johnson says his goal is to win the presidency outright, but there’s another path to the presidency for a third-party candidate. “Three months ago [polls showed the party support] was 5 percent”.
In a year in which voters are expressing dissatisfaction with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, the Libertarians are having a political moment. In about four dozen independent polls reported since early July, he has averaged 8 percent.
Third parties face a steep climb, especially during a presidential election, but controversy surrounding both major-party candidates has turned the attention of many elsewhere.
Bill Weld and his Libertarian Party running mate – presidential nominee Gary Johnson – were in Boston Saturday asking Bay State voters for their support.
Trump’s first two de facto campaign managers are gone, and staffers say the campaign is in disarray.
Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, is one of several third party candidates for president who will appear on the ballot in Wisconsin this November.
The system arbitrarily deprives Americans of a fair and fully representative opportunity to size up all of the serious candidates and make fully informed choices.
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The two former Republican governors say their ticket better reflects the values of ordinary Americans than either the Republican or Democratic candidates.
