This election: It's scary. It’s overwhelming. It’s putting America under a terrifying magnifying lens where one person could change the reputation we have built or at least attempted to portray to the world. We scroll through our Facebook feeds in awe of who our “friends” are siding with as the election progresses. Sarah has come out as a Republican, and you sit and think to yourself about all those pro-choice and feminist tweets that litter her profile, and you wonder if she’s aware of Trump’s misogynistic views and his pro-life stand. Or you see Henry’s pro-Clinton reposts about how trustworthy she is and how the email controversy is not a big deal since there were no charges filed against her. Side note: I think we should all be well aware how if anyone else were to send nearly 2,100 classified emails on their home server they would be fired and possibly in jail. But the fear that voting for a third party candidate is still terrifying, regardless of Johnson’s qualifications. Will he win? Will it impact the election at all? Is a vote for a third party candidate a vote for Trump? I decided to look up Johnson’s appeal and the likelihood of him getting elected.
So, here’s where we are in the race currently:
Clinton: 43
Trump: 38
Johnson: 10
We’re all well aware of third parties and how they haven't done well in our past presidential elections. This year, history and does not seem to matter very much. In our current election, Johnson presents a powerfully appealing and compelling option. He’s a former Republican Governor with office experience, and a smaller- government free- market platform. He has a high appeal and acceptability rate on both the left and right side. It may not seem do-able with the current numbers but on May 12th through May 15th, 2016 Data Targeting, Inc. conducted a survey of 997 registered voters in the U.S. The study involves the possibility of an independent candidate for President. I would like to bring to everyone's attention how much the millennial vote will impact this election and how we will decide the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Current trends show that a minuscule amount of millennial’s support Trump and Clinton, in spite of her pandering, does not generate enough enthusiasm. Even with Bernie Sander’s and President Barack Obama’s support, they still may not vote in significant enough numbers, and if she does, it will be a vote for the lesser evil. There is a high negative name identification among voters for both Clinton and Trump. 56 percent of voters have an unfavorable impression of Hillary Clinton, and 55 percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump. Even with these numbers, most likely, Hillary Clinton will win the general election.
Personally, I believe that if more voters were aware of our Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, he could win. Why? Because 58 percent of voters are unsatisfied with the current set of candidates, both republican and democratic, 55 percent would be for having an independent president in 2016, and 65 percent of voters are willing to support a candidate who is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. All numbers above 50 percent, and all a candidate needs to win the presidential election is to receive the majority of the electoral vote--so at least 51 percent--and with a third party candidate, they would only need 34 percent of the electoral vote, which is possible.
With these numbers, the weight of the millennial vote, and the 91 percent of voters under the age of 29 who are for having an independent candidate on the ballot, we could change the outcome of this election. Is this far fetched? Definitely, but just a few months ago a Donald Trump nomination seemed far-fetched too.
