Cenk Uygur Warns Mainstream Media: Don't Underestimate Impact of Libertarian Candidate
This past weekend, the Libertarian Party held its convention where former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson won the Libertarian nomination for president. While also a former Republican, Johnson previously ran the most successful libertarian campaign in the party’s history. His biggest advantage this year? The high unfavorables of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and America’s increased willingness to look beyond the Democratic and Republican parties.
A poll last month showed that 44 percent of voters want a third-party option come November. The Young Turks’ host Cenk Uygur pointed out that the media shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Johnson or his impact on the race.
“Forty-four percent is a big number—unprecedented in modern times,” he warned
Though Johnson received just 1 percent of the vote in 2012, he is already polling nationally at 10 percent. It is also worth noting that 17 percent of voters are still undecided.
“I’ve been covering politics for over 20 years… that Gary Johnson number is almost unbelievable,” Uygur exclaimed.
"I do believe that the vast majority of the people in this country are libertarian; they just don't know it yet," Johnson said upon announcing his candidacy.
But as Uygur put it, “if you’re not knee-deep in politics, there’s almost no chance you know who Gary Johnson is.”
“I bet most of the 10 percent who said ’Gary Johnson’ [in the poll] didn’t know who Gary Johnson is,” Uygur continued. They’re like, ‘Hillary Clinton? No. Donald Trump? No. Gary Johnson? Yeah, OK, fine.”
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