Now that we know former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is going to be the Libertarian Party nominee after this weekend’s convention, much of the talk has centered around how Johnson could be a spoiler for Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton.
Conventional wisdom would say that Libertarians and Republicans have a closer ideology than Libertarians and Democrats, and therefore, conservatives dissatisfied with Trump will vote for Johnson. The problem with this conventional wisdom is that 2016 isn’t conventional, and the candidates representing their parties don’t hold the usual ideologies of their parties.
At this point, it appears there are more Sanders supporters abandoning Clinton for Johnson than conservatives who are abandoning Trump for Johnson.
A recent Fox News poll analyzed in our story “From #FeelTheBern to #FeelTheJohnson? Gary Johnson sees huge jump in new poll,” shows that many millennial Democrats say they would support Johnson over Clinton or Trump. 18 percent of young voters support Johnson, 40 percent support Clinton, and 31 percent support Trump. Trump has gained millennial support over time, while Clinton is greatly underperforming with a key component of the Democrat base.
Why would young supporters of a socialist candidate vote for a libertarian over Clinton?
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04.19.2024