Do nearly two-thirds of Americans want Libertarian Party presidential nominee and former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson in the presidential debates?
Snopes.com, the hoax-busting website, investigated the truthiness of a widespread Internet meme making just that claim.
The verdict?
It’s true.
An August 25th Quinnipiac University poll showed 62 percent of likely voters saying yes, “Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president, should be included in the presidential debates.” Among 18-to-34-year-olds, a whopping 82 percent felt Johnson deserved a podium.
Or perhaps more accurately, these voters want an opportunity to hear about all their choices, not just Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton —deliciously dubbed “the unloved presidential candidates” in the Quinnipiac news release. Which leads to the most important number in the survey: 68 percent felt they “haven’t heard enough” about Gov. Johnson to even form an opinion.
He still garnered 10 percent support overall and was the only candidate with a higher favorable* than unfavorable rating.
Voters are dissatisfied with the major party choices, so why limit the debate to just Trump and Clinton? Because the Commission on Presidential Debates is a crony organization, a wholly owned subsidiary of the DNC and the RNC. With 68 percent of the public totally uninformed about Johnson, he’d have to win nearly a majority of everyone else to hit the 15 percent support required to get in the debates.
Where’s the Fourth Estate? Doesn’t the American voter deserve enough information about Johnson and Stein to form an opinion?
Or will they be broadcasting rigged debates?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* By the way, once again, the contest was closer when the polling included Libertarian Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. While head-to-head Mrs. Clinton bested Mr. Trump by a full 10 percentage points, 51-41, with Johnson and Stein included, Clinton’s advantage shrank to 45-38 percent, a seven point lead.
5 replies on “The Media’s Job”
And the best ticket of all, a write-in, coming complete with a stunning political program: Ed Snowden/Chelsea Manning. http://snowden-manning.org.
…. With 68 percent of the public totally uninformed about Johnson, he’d have to win nearly a majority of everyone else to hit the 15 percent support required to get in the debates ….
Or, better yet, he and his fellow-Big-Government-fascissocialist-posing-as-a-Libertarian: Weld; had better get off their rear ends and garner themselves some support.
Meanwhile, a large enough percentage of Americans need to know that — given the “Democrats'” effective ownership, operation and control of all of the machinery of elections and of every electoral role — and that they are given to massive electoral, elections and voter fraud — a vote for a third party in a presidential election is a vote for a “Democrat.”
Brian Richard Allen — If a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for the Democrat, why does the Democrat’s lead shrink when voters have a chance to choose candidates other than the Republican and Democrat? That change would indicate that more people choosing a third party would vote for Hillary than Trump if they didn’t have that alternative choice.
The difference between 2016 and 1992 is that people who WANT to learn about Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have ample opportunity to learn about them without them being in the presidential debates.
They are appearing on various cable shows and there is ample opportunity to see and hear what they think by doing our own research. Perhaps we should stop expecting the media to do everything for us. If we want to learn more about the alternative candidates, we have ample opportunity to do it ourselves.
I’m voting Libertarian again not because I believe in the Johnson/ Weld ticket, which I don’t, but because the appearances are putting a face on the LP that is long overdue and maybe if there is another election in 2020 that someone more libertarian like Austin Peterson may be the nominee and can start out somewhere other than zero. I am personally ashamed that the LP chose to prostitute itself by not allowing a real Libertarian to head the ticket.