Both the Democrats and Republicans are on track to nominate candidates that are not well liked, even within their respective parties. Because of this, another party may soon make headlines.
Gary Johnson, currently running to be the Libertarian Party’s nomination, believes that this is the election year for Libertarians to finally break through the big parties. With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ready to take each party’s nomination, Johnson believes that voters will look for an alternate option.
Johnson has thus far been encouraged by polling that shows him with double-digit support when up against Trump and Clinton.
“If that’s the table that gets set and Libertarians don’t do extraordinarily well, when are they ever going to do well?” Johnson told The Washington Times.
Prior to this election, Johnson was a two term Republican governor of New Mexico (1995-203) and sought the Republican nomination in 2012. He ended his presidential campaign after failing to make the debate stage a number of times. He ran as a Libertarian instead, and ended up appearing on the ballot. However, come election time, he only won about 1% of the vote.
Johnson believes that this year will be vastly different since both candidates represent such far extremes. He believes that middle of the road voters will have no choice but to look to the Libertarian party.
His issues? First and foremost he is popular because he would legalize marijuana. He is pro-choice, is in favor of same sex marriage, is opposed to the Patriot Act. Not much Republican left in him (although believes in an immediate balanced federal budget).
The chair of the Libertarian party, Nicholas Sarwark, claims that former presidential candidates have approached the party about coming on board.
“We have been approached by candidates who have dropped out of the old party races about running on the Libertarian Party ticket,” Mr. Sarwark said. “At this point, none of them have jumped in but we have explored the options and talked to them about the logistics of it, what they would have to do, how they would be able to become part of the process.”
The official nominee of the Libertarian party will be determined at their convention held in May.
Of course, if Gary Johnson isn’t quite your cup of tea, why not consider perrenial presidential candidate Vermin Supreme?