Gary Johnson Gains Support And May Take Ohio Out of Play for Romney

Reason ^

[TigerClaws]

The usual wisdom is that, as election day grows closer, support for third-party candidates tends to shrivel as the voting public heeds the tribal war drums and comes home to Team Red or Team Blue in a ritualistic display of political masochism that could be topped only by the sight of actual hair-shirted flagellants lined up to enter the polling booths. That third-party shrinkage may not be happening this year, though — or not yet, at least. A new poll from Ohio shows Gary Johnson gaining support, even as press reports emphasize the hold-your-nose-quality in which both major-party candidates marinate, and which may have voters looking elsewhere for options.

[TigerClaws]

Perot led to 8 years of Clinton.

[Nifster]

Exactly my thoughts. Criminitly these so called concerned for America votes are going to be the death of us all. Their vision is limited and their logic is flawed

[Perdogg]

This is a joke, right?

[barmag25]

Satire...?

[God luvs America]

Perot was an anti-GHWB vote....if anything Johnson will bring in anti-obama votes....

[Homer_J_Simpson]

10.6%? Somebody’s suffering decimal slide.

[TigerClaws]

A vote for anyone but Romney is a vote for Obama.
That’s the political reality.

If memory serves, Nadar’s idiotic third party run helped to defeat Gore.

Often these candidates are funded by the other side looking to divert votes.

[kevkrom]

Poll is D+10, and Reason has a vested interest in cheerleading against the two party system.

[TigerClaws]

Even 1% could BR the difference in the swing states.

10% did seem crazy high to me as well.

[MrDem]

In 1980, Anderson’s 15% poll numbers collapsed when it came time to actually vote.

[hinckley buzzard]

Polling technique used here illustrates how presenting an option induces some people to respond to it, just by the fact it is there. I have never met or heard anyone in Ohio who even knows who Johnson is. Every election, the ballot has a couple names no one has ever heard of. This year will be no exception.

[TigerClaws]

Wiki:

Nader received almost 100,000 votes in Florida, from which a slight disparagement in favour of Gore would have altered the outcome.

@@

So a leftist got George W. elected so he could have an ego trip. Hillarious.

[G Larry]

Friggen IDIOTS just don’t believe 4 more years of BO will destroy this country!

“oh...but Romney’s not perfect, and we’re so stupid, we believe we’ll do better next time...”

[ex-snook]

"Perot led to 8 years of Clinton. "

Actually Bush I gave us Perot by ignoring the middle class jobs Sucking Sound. Screwing the middle class will continue to haunt the GOP.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

The TRUTH is that this pot smoking, gay-obsessed fembot will steal more votes away from 0bama than Romney.

[Vigilanteman]

Nothing is more important to a Losertarian than easy access to cheap pot. ObaMao is more likely to give it to them than Romney, so they'd really like to vote for Obama. But Gary Johnson is a great choice to keep them from making that decision.

[1rudeboy]

I thought Johnson was going to peel-off lib voters? I saw an article in the Atlantic just today (online).

[arrogantsob]

Nationwide 6% for this doofus? Yeah, sure. Try >2%. Where is the Green Party?

[arrogantsob]

Not a chance.

[1rudeboy]

Yeah, if you figure the “sucking sound” was first “heard” 10-12 years after Bush I left office. I hate historical revisionism.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Yep.

[arrogantsob]

Bush did not “screw the middle class” in any way. Especially not compared with the Democrats.

[drbuzzard]

Had lunch with some people from FEE yesterday (http://www.fee.org/). These are some pretty hardcore libertarian types who are focused on free market economics and individual liberty. They were pulling for Romney simply because while they certainly sympathize with Johnson, they understand that Obama is so much of a horrible option that it is not time for a protest vote. The president of the organization told me himself- “We probably can’t take 4 more years of Obama, or the country is in too deep.” This was a realistic Libertarian.

[Andrei Bulba]

What a piece of low life garbage.

[mmichaels1970]

lol. I guarantee if I could walk through my office right now, and then through my church and ask who is running for president, 100% of the answers would not include Johnson.

Not only does he not have support, I'd venture that almost nobody even knows he's running.

There is absolutely no way he is at 10% or better.

[Chances Are]

Actually Bush I gave us Perot by ignoring the middle class jobs Sucking Sound. Screwing the middle class will continue to haunt the GOP.

Maybe...but in the absence of Perot on the ballot, how do figure the election goes? Especially the first one ('92)?

CA....

[faithhopecharity]

SH!T! Whoever this guy is, he’s probably on the Saudi-Soros payroll?

[righttackle44]

Perot led to 8 years of Clinton.

There are guys right here on FR who have told us that they voted for ole Ross, and they are going to vote third party in 2012, and that they are not afraid of the accusation that they gave us Clinton. They honestly believe that if they help give us another four years of Obama, so they have said, they believe we will listen to them in 2016. I am coming to the point where I am beginning to believe that Conservatism does NOT necessarily lead to intelligence. I think these guys are prime examples of that.

[Tennessee Nana]

Gary Johnson is on my SE TN ballotr along with Virgil Goode..

Plus some others...

Early votinjg stasrts in TN Oct 17...

The linerup for POTUS in Nana’s area...

Willard, Paul Ryan....Republican
Obama, Joe Biden..... Democrat
Virgil Goode, Jim Clymer...Constitution
Jill Stein, Cheri Honkala...Green
Rocky Anderson, Luis J Rodriguez...Indy (Willard endorsed Rocky back when he was running for Mayor as a Democrat)
Gary Johnson, James P Gray...Indy
Merlin Miller, Virginia D Abernathy...Indy

[pallis]

Gary is just an egotist proving he can finish another race. Nuts who will support him don’t care about the damage Obama is doing, or the damage he will do, given a second term.

[JaguarXKE]

One must first have logic for it to be flawed.

[andyk]

I think many believe America is too far gone to save. The sooner it collapses, the sooner its former glory can be restored. Sounds a little fantastical for my tastes. I do think were too far gone to save, but I don’t believe a collapse is good for anyone.

[safeasthebanks]

"Perot led to 8 years of Clinton."

Prove it.

[liberty or death]

The only reason Democrats want drugs to be legal is so they can tax the sh!t out of it. I drink Grey Goose Vodka and it is taxed in Montana at 52%. So I have to pay 60.00 instead of 30. These dumb pot-heads are going to get soaked.

[ex-snook]

"Yeah, if you figure the “sucking sound” was first “heard” 10-12 years after Bush I left office."

Nah, the GOP [nor the Dems] still hasn't heard the sucking sound. Middle class jobs have been sailing out on the trade wins or going Mexico way since Perot.

[AppyPappy]

Who is Gary Johnson?

[stuartcr]

But the personal reality, is that a person votes for who they would want to be president...

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

No, Bush led to 4 years of Clinton. And the GOP led to another 4 years of Clinton. And Bush led to 4 years of Obama. NO MORE F’ing BUSHES!

[CatherineofAragon]

Last night I actually saw a Gary Johnson ad on TV (I’m in VA). It was juvenile and abysmally stupid. Apparently he’s going for the moron vote.

[popdonnelly]

Great, four more years of Obama.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Former NM Gov. Did a decent job as Gov on the financial side, but he’s a bit too socially liberal for me.

[1rudeboy]

That's what I'm saying. Your typical Perot supporter (even if he simply is whining about the present), never understood that Perot was wrong.

You can't tell me that the Cubs will win the World Series next year, and then, when the Cubs finally win in 2027 say "I told you so."

[wideawake]

It's Reason magazine, the libertarian publication.

Of course they're going to claim that a Libertarian - for the first time in the party's history -is gaining in a national race.

[KevinDavis]

In all fairness it is not the job of the Government to protect jobs.. Maybe we shouldn’t be overtaxing and over regulating? I would like to know where in the Constitution that the Government has to protect jobs.. Show me..

[Buckeye McFrog]

88.3% of Ohioans surveyed identified Gary Johnson as “a reserve running back for the Cincinnati Bengals”...

[1rudeboy]

Don't follow the logic. How can one candidate "lead" to another, but not another candidate lead to another? There are folks on this website who believe that Bush led to Obama . . . when Romney loses, will they still blame Bush? When will it end?

[GlockThe Vote]

Yup - we have only ourselves to blame for this disaster. Population of crack pots.

[KarlInOhio]

Maybe...but in the absence of Perot on the ballot, how do figure the election goes? Especially the first one ('92)?

If Perot wasn't there his voters would have had to split at least 2/3 Bush to 1/3 Clinton for Bush to have won. I don't think they would have split that unevenly.

[1rudeboy]

Because the Constitution allows for tariffs to be used in order to generate revenue for the Federal government, conventional wisdom [snort] allows for tariffs to be used as a jobs program.

Witness all the caterwauling over "high-paying" jobs, and how the government can "protect" them.

[ex-snook]

'Your typical Perot supporter (even if he simply is whining about the present), never understood that Perot was wrong.'

??? Perot was wrong ??? And we just imagine that we have no unemployment now and trade would create good middle class jobs.