The past few weeks have been extremely interesting. With both the Republican and Democratic National Convention wrapped up, you would think that Democrats and Republicans would be rallying around the chosen candidates and gearing up for the battle in November. That’s not the case. As a matter of fact, division has never been more apparent. The “Never Trumpers” and the “Bernie or Bust” supporters are both holding their ground, voicing their dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, more and more dissatisfied Americans are doing research over third party candidates. Want proof? During the Republican National Convention alone, searches for information on third party candidates spiked 1,150%!
At both conventions, Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld of the Libertarian Party and Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party made appearances at both conventions. At the Republican National Convention, Governor Johnson was met with respect and enthusiasm. While going around, he remarked on how well he was received by many Republican Delegates who voiced their support for him. At the Democratic National Convention, Dr. Stein was met with mixed response. While many Democrats joined in the chanting of “Jill, not Hill,” others were not as pleased. Dr. Stein eventually had to be escorted out of the DNC due to the degree of open hostility towards her. It’s hard for the media to ignore the two third party candidates anymore. Each day, more and more interest in a third party run is growing.
On social media, you can probably go down your newsfeed and you will probably see some kind of post supporting Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. At the same time, there are even more posts attempting to discredit the Libertarian and the Green Party candidates. Either way, it is starting to become more apparent that Americans are not just happy with the candidates for the Republicans and Democrats. Can you blame them? Clinton is dealing with WikiLeak hacks while Trump is dealing with the repercussions from spouting out whatever comes to mind. It’s not a good situation on either front. However, it is encouraging to see more and more people voting with their conscience and for a candidate, rather than supporting someone they don’t believe in and casting a vote solely to keep the other out of office.
One of the biggest infuriating things that have come out of both conventions is the open hostility towards “Never Trump” and “Bernie or Bust.” On both sides, you hear about how these individuals need to “stop crying,” how they need to “grow up,” and “support the people’s candidate.” Unfortunately, hostility for third party supporters has also spiked. Each day, you see more and more Republicans and Democrats flooding the Facebook pages for Governor Johnson and Dr. Stein trying to convince others to “wake up,” and to not “waste their vote.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that strategy is working at all. With the debates right around the corner, it is my hope that the support for the third parties continues to rise. It would be great to see someone other than Clinton and Trump, wouldn’t it?
