Also seeking to make the ballot with like independent status are Darrell Castle (of the Constitution Party), Greater Clevelander Richard Duncan of Aurora and Michael Steinberg, a Californian who ran in that state’s Democratic primary and drew about 11,000 votes.
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Weld, a former Governor of MA, continues describing how Johnson is “one of the most honest people” he’s met – nearly “painfully honest”.
Whether he is successful could make a difference to Republicans, particularly the fortunes of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is in a close race in the state with Democrat Hillary Clinton.
When the nation turns its attention to the debates for president and vice president, Gary Johnson and Bill Weld have earned the right to be on the stage. This is significant and nearly certainly means that Gary is pulling much more support from Clinton than he is from Trump. If Johnson-Weld can get at least 2 percent of the Iowa vote, Libertarians will be recognized by the Iowa Secretary of State as a political party rather than as a non-party political organization. He needed twice as many votes to guarantee his party a spot on the 2016 ballot.
While the commission has not yet announced which polls it will survey to determine whether or not Johnson, as well as Green Party nominee Jill Stein, have reached that 15 percent cutoff, in 2012 it relied on polls sponsored by the four major TV networks, NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, as well as the time-honored Gallup poll. The survey found Clinton at 44 percent to Trump’s 42 percent, with Johnson at 8 percent and Stein at 3 percent. “If someone came in and let’s say he was (polling) at 14.5 percent and the margin of error in five polls was three points, we are going to have to sit down and look at it”, Fahrenkopf said.
This means even if Johnson doesn’t get elected, this campaign season is still a win for their party.
The Gallup organization has not yet polled the presidential race with Gary Johnson included.
After great discussion and speculation, the presidential candidates of all the parties have now been made official.
Johnson is on track to be on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Howell said, noting OH has been “one of the worst” states for access.
Fox Business Network will give Johnson, Weld, and the Libertarian Party more airtime, hosting a Town Hall of its own later in August.
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And Trump’s prospects in OH already are complicated.
