Take a look at Gary Johnson’s vote, state by state, Then at his pro-drug, no mention of 2A politics. Then at Trump’s margin of victory. We need Gary Johnson or similar to run as a Libertarian. Unfortunately, Lincoln Chafee isn’t the person. Maybe Ronan Farrow.
4,489,235 votes for Gary Johnson 2016 Presidential run. Now think how many more states Hilliary would have carried with 4,489,235 * 75% more votes. And how few of these votes President Trump is going to get.
I don’t know a single Libertarian candidate who is likely to draw more than 2 million votes in 2020. We need a strong left Libertarian candidate and a strong Green candidate to maximize chances. Problem with that is downstream races, as a strong Green candidate is likely to help Dims downballot.
Just the other day I was talking with someone who was pretty convinced that Johnson took more votes away from Trump. Their theory was that if Johnson hadn’t been in the race, Trump might have edged out Hillary in the popular vote. I disagreed, saying that the Libertarian party leans left these days (unlike, say, twenty years ago in the Harry Browne era). They countered that Johnson was a Republican and would have gotten the anti-Trump Republican and conservative vote. At that point I was at a bit of a loss because I wasn’t familiar with Johnson and wasn’t sure who he would appeal to (or be able to fake out). You’re saying he would have gotten more lefty votes?