Though the Libertarian candidate is always a long shot to become USA president, Johnson in recent polls has double-digit popularity among voters, in a three-way matchup with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who each have historically low popularity.
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For Mr Johnson to make a serious run this year, he needs to qualify for the presidential debates by averaging 15% in five recognised polls.
Trump and Clinton are both receiving double-digit negative net ratings in polls. He brought in less than 1 percent of the vote nationally. After endless speculation that the Republican Party’s divided primary might end in a contested convention in Cleveland and continued theories that the Democrats’ primary could end in Philadelphia with a floor battle between party insiders, 2016 finally had a contested convention – in Orlando. If Johnson wants to be on the main debate stage with Trump and Hillary in the fall he’ll need to step up his game by a lot. Johnson was the party’s nominee in 2012 as well. The audience roared in approval at the news.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.
In 2012, he was the Libertarian candidate, garnering 1.2 million votes, the party’s best showing ever.
Normally a modest affair for media coverage, over 300 print and TV press members were credentialed for the first nominating convention of the 2016 election cycle.
Thanking the Libertarian delegates after his victory, Johnson played up his general election chances.
“I’ve been covering politics for over 20 years… that Gary Johnson number is nearly unbelievable”, Uygur exclaimed.
Johnson also called for inclusion in more national polling surveys.
If he wins the elections, Johnson plans on cutting down taxes and cutting back on military interventions.
Johnson received 49.5 percent support from delegates at the party’s convention in Orlando, Florida. The closest competition came from Austin Petersen, who had 21 percent, and antivirus guru John McAfee, who had 14 percent.
Like Johnson, it took Weld two ballots to secure the nomination.
Johnson boasts that he balanced New Mexico’s budget and it created an economic environment that allowed jobs to be created by growing companies.
But two former Republican governors will be on top of the Libertarian Party ticket in November. In polls that pitted Johnson against Trump and Clinton, Johnson got 10 percent from Fox News and 11 percent from a Monmouth poll. The Libertarian Party has navigated the multitude of onerous requirements for ballot access in all 50 states, a task unaccomplished by any other third party.
Most delegates believe Johnson and Weld’s statehouse experience will be an asset, though, for a party that has always been overlooked.
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Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson will run for president of the United States. Sarwark also said he had been speaking to Matt Kibbe, former president of conservative advocacy group Freedomworks, about supporting the party’s nominee.
