Where is the 98% figure coming from? Was there a survey where the respondents could freely select from the 'nuts', 'whacco', 'weird' and 'scary' boxes?
Seriously, the 98% of the country that relies on the 'mainstream' information distribution outlets is being told 100% of the time that any 'idea' that doesn't fall within the DemoGOP 'mainstream' is 'nuts' by definition.
I apologize; I completely miswrote that sentence. I didn't mean to say that the public thinks the IDEAS themselves are nuts, but rather that everything the Libertarian Party has to say is nuts by definition. That is to say, they think capital-L Libertarians are a little loony.
The blame for this lies squarely at the feet of the LP itself; their entire public relations staff ought to be burned at the stake, because every press release they put out seems to have a tone somewhere between "nyah nyah, [insert current president here] screwed up, we were riiight!" and a Lyndon Larouche conspiracy theory document.
Not that changing PR strategies would suddenly raise the LP to 20% in the polls; I stand by my theory of the inherent unworkability of third parties under our system of government. But really, making the public stop thinking you're a bunch of crazies is the first step. At the very least, they'd be far more likely to at least consider LP policy positions.