07-13-2016, 12:55 PM
The Third Party Candidates
I believe there are Bernie supporters who absolutely mean it when they say they will never vote for Hillary Clinton (though many others have already moved to Clinton). And, I believe those Bernie supporters who say they'd never vote for Trump either. So, some of them will stay home and some of them will look more closely at the other options.
It'll be interesting to see how the Green Party's Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson's numbers look in the wake of Bernie's formal departure from the Democratic race.
I don't know how many people vote based on which candidate's platform most closely aligns with their views and priorities for the country though. The Republican leaders say that a vote for one of the third party candidates is a vote for Hillary. The Democratic leaders say that a vote for one of the third party candidates is a vote for Trump. That's misleading.
A vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson is a vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, neither of whom appears to have a shot in hell of winning. But, if anti-Trump and anti-Clinton voters stay home instead of voting for a third party candidate/platform they like, it has no impact on Clinton and Trump; it only has a negative impact on the third parties' ability to use high vote counts to increase public awareness and consideration of their goals by the mainstream. That's how I see it.
I believe there are Bernie supporters who absolutely mean it when they say they will never vote for Hillary Clinton (though many others have already moved to Clinton). And, I believe those Bernie supporters who say they'd never vote for Trump either. So, some of them will stay home and some of them will look more closely at the other options.
It'll be interesting to see how the Green Party's Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson's numbers look in the wake of Bernie's formal departure from the Democratic race.
I don't know how many people vote based on which candidate's platform most closely aligns with their views and priorities for the country though. The Republican leaders say that a vote for one of the third party candidates is a vote for Hillary. The Democratic leaders say that a vote for one of the third party candidates is a vote for Trump. That's misleading.
A vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson is a vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, neither of whom appears to have a shot in hell of winning. But, if anti-Trump and anti-Clinton voters stay home instead of voting for a third party candidate/platform they like, it has no impact on Clinton and Trump; it only has a negative impact on the third parties' ability to use high vote counts to increase public awareness and consideration of their goals by the mainstream. That's how I see it.