With the possible exception of the breakaway Republican Progressive (“Bull-Moose”) Party in 1912, third parties have never come remotely close to electing a U.S. President. Even then, the Roosevelt insurgency, which finished second, only garnered 27 percent of the popular vote and a meager 88 electoral votes to over 400 for Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Nevertheless, the Republican split ensured a Democratic victory.
A distant second among third-party efforts was Ross Perot’s 19 percent (along with zero electoral votes) in 1992. However, Perot’s presence took enough votes away from incumbent President George H.W. Bush to gift the presidency to Bill Clinton.
What is happening today among the pie-in-the-sky crowd should strike terror in the hearts of Joe Biden and Democrats. There is no question that the third-party candidacies of Cornel West, Jill Stein and especially Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are going to take votes away from Biden and make Donald Trump’s path to the presidency much easier. While RFK, Jr. may also pull away some Trump voters, they won’t be enough to give Biden much of a boost. Add the whackadoodle “No Labels” irritant to the mix (to date they have not named a candidate, having been turned down by Joe Manchin, Larry Hogan and Kyrsten Sinema) and the Biden folks must be near panic.
Several years ago, I met a woman who had spent much of her career working directly for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She extolled his virtues and dismissed what I said about his outré views about vaccines, which I opined were incredibly dangerous coming from someone whose last name was still revered by millions of Americans. And therein lies the Democrats’ biggest problem. Despite his alarming anti-vaccine nonsense along with the barrage of additional disinformation and garbage science he vomits at his rallies, the Kennedy name is enough for millions of Americans who don’t know much about his crazy conspiracy utterances or the fact that he has been disavowed by virtually the entire Kennedy family. RFK, Jr. is even fundraising via sales of his 10-year old book that, among other false claims, maintains that polio isn't caused by a virus and that the polio vaccine "doesn't work." In fact, Kennedy’s co-author said in a recent interview that “there are no worthwhile vaccines, not even smallpox or tetanus, and certainly not the polio vaccine." Yikes!
Unfortunately, the public has a short memory concerning the devastation and anguish wrought by diseases that have largely been eradicated by vaccines. They have forgotten what life was like when polio ran rampant and parents felt helpless and kept their kids away from swimming pools, public libraries, Good Humor vendors and sometimes even schools. Then, when someone with the name “Kennedy” comes along and vilifies vaccines, his celebrity overcomes his madness. This differs little from the MAGA crowd that still believes that Trump is a huge business success because he played a titan on TV, despite his innumerable real-world business failures.
The truth, of course, is that vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives since the 1950s, and that some of the virulent diseases that they have prevented have all but disappeared thanks to them.
When third parties do make a difference as to which major party candidate prevails, it is often due to public inattention and ignorance. In 2016, the Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson received over 5 million votes and more than enough votes in the “battleground” states to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency. In Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Stein alone drew enough votes from Clinton to assure Trump the presidency.
This kind of perverted result can happen again this year. A vote for one of these minor candidates with no hope of winning is a vote for Donald Trump. These nonentities are a serious threat, not only to Joe Biden, but also to the survival of America as we know and value it. Democrats cannot only focus their attention and ad spending on Trump. They must also do all in their power to dissuade voters from pulling the lever for Kennedy, Stein et al.
Dick Hermann
March 23, 2024
A distant second among third-party efforts was Ross Perot’s 19 percent (along with zero electoral votes) in 1992. However, Perot’s presence took enough votes away from incumbent President George H.W. Bush to gift the presidency to Bill Clinton.
What is happening today among the pie-in-the-sky crowd should strike terror in the hearts of Joe Biden and Democrats. There is no question that the third-party candidacies of Cornel West, Jill Stein and especially Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are going to take votes away from Biden and make Donald Trump’s path to the presidency much easier. While RFK, Jr. may also pull away some Trump voters, they won’t be enough to give Biden much of a boost. Add the whackadoodle “No Labels” irritant to the mix (to date they have not named a candidate, having been turned down by Joe Manchin, Larry Hogan and Kyrsten Sinema) and the Biden folks must be near panic.
Several years ago, I met a woman who had spent much of her career working directly for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She extolled his virtues and dismissed what I said about his outré views about vaccines, which I opined were incredibly dangerous coming from someone whose last name was still revered by millions of Americans. And therein lies the Democrats’ biggest problem. Despite his alarming anti-vaccine nonsense along with the barrage of additional disinformation and garbage science he vomits at his rallies, the Kennedy name is enough for millions of Americans who don’t know much about his crazy conspiracy utterances or the fact that he has been disavowed by virtually the entire Kennedy family. RFK, Jr. is even fundraising via sales of his 10-year old book that, among other false claims, maintains that polio isn't caused by a virus and that the polio vaccine "doesn't work." In fact, Kennedy’s co-author said in a recent interview that “there are no worthwhile vaccines, not even smallpox or tetanus, and certainly not the polio vaccine." Yikes!
Unfortunately, the public has a short memory concerning the devastation and anguish wrought by diseases that have largely been eradicated by vaccines. They have forgotten what life was like when polio ran rampant and parents felt helpless and kept their kids away from swimming pools, public libraries, Good Humor vendors and sometimes even schools. Then, when someone with the name “Kennedy” comes along and vilifies vaccines, his celebrity overcomes his madness. This differs little from the MAGA crowd that still believes that Trump is a huge business success because he played a titan on TV, despite his innumerable real-world business failures.
The truth, of course, is that vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives since the 1950s, and that some of the virulent diseases that they have prevented have all but disappeared thanks to them.
When third parties do make a difference as to which major party candidate prevails, it is often due to public inattention and ignorance. In 2016, the Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson received over 5 million votes and more than enough votes in the “battleground” states to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency. In Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Stein alone drew enough votes from Clinton to assure Trump the presidency.
This kind of perverted result can happen again this year. A vote for one of these minor candidates with no hope of winning is a vote for Donald Trump. These nonentities are a serious threat, not only to Joe Biden, but also to the survival of America as we know and value it. Democrats cannot only focus their attention and ad spending on Trump. They must also do all in their power to dissuade voters from pulling the lever for Kennedy, Stein et al.
Dick Hermann
March 23, 2024
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