Posted under Constitution Party & Libertarian Party & Politics
From Politico. The Washington Post has the original story.
More than two-thirds of Americans would consider voting for a third-party presidential candidate, while nearly half of all voters think a third-party is needed, a new poll shows…
The most likely to support the creation a third party? A majority of independents (61 percent), liberals (60 percent) and moderates (51 percent) said that a third party was necessary…
First of all, I don’t buy this. People always support the idea of a third party in general but not when they actually go into the voting booth. Just like they say they will support a third party candidate early in the polling season but that support evaporates by election time.
The good news here is that this probably means there is a solid base for easing ballot access barriers. And while the internals of the polls need to be examined, on the surface this doesn’t bode well for ideological third parties. The greatest percentage of support comes from independents who likely think the major parties are too “extreme.” This might bode well for Americans Elect.
Cross posted at IPR minus my editorial comments.
Kirt Higdon on 23 Jan 2012 at 11:35 pm #
The problem with these third party polls is the same (except more pronounced) as polls which pit a generic challenger against a known incumbent. Everyone gets to indulge in wishful thinking and imagine that the third party or the challenger will suit his wishes 100%.