A year ago, no one would have guessed that Utah would be a swing state in the presidential election. After all, it is the most reliably Republican state in the union. But Utah isn’t a swing state because Hillary Clinton is doing well, it’s because it’s the one state a third party candidate could actually win.
In three straight polls, Independent candidate Evan McMullin is either first or statistically tied for first in the last three polls in Utah. In an Emerson poll, McMullin is winning 31 percent of the vote, Trump is at 27 percent, and Clinton has 24 percent support.
Who cares if McMullin wins one state? As I pointed out last week, there’s a small chance he could prevent both candidates from winning the required 270 electoral votes and send the election to the House to pick the president. But, that’s not really why Utah is significant.
Utah’s choice is important because of the message it sends to future generations in the history books. If Utah picks an unlikely third party candidate as their choice, it can’t be ignored. It will show the Republican party’s lack of unity behind Donald Trump and that he did not speak for the entirety of the GOP.
McMullin would be the first third-party candidate since 1968 to win electoral votes. Ironically, that candidate in 1968 was George Wallace — who many journalists have compared to Trump. Wallace was a Southern populist who was a Democrat until his party abandoned his ideology. One of Wallace’s slogans was “Law and Order.” Sound familiar? Wallace won five states and came close to sending the election to the House.
Get the Exclusive
04.28.2024