In the past week Jeb Bush has suggested voting for third-party candidate Gary Johnson. Reports of Bush saying this come from a private luncheon, however a spokeswoman for Bush told the New York Daily News “Nothing has changed since the Governor wrote [a Washington Post] op-ed a couple months ago saying he couldn’t support Hillary or Trump. He has said he would consider voting for the Libertarian ticket. No decision or update though.” Bush is not the only person bringing up the idea of voting for Johnson. Other celebrities and big-name people have endorsed him, including actress Melissa Joan Hart, comedian Drew Carey, actress/ TV host Raven-Symone`, and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Rudy Carpenter. Some news sources, including the Detroit News and Chicago Tribune, have also endorsed Johnson. Johnson only has a small amount of endorsements compared to Clinton and Trump.
With celebrities’ endorsement and a potential vote from a former GOP candidate, Johnson could see improvement in the polls. However, this hasn’t been the case. With low favorability for both Clinton and Trump, Johnson hoped to benefit. Regardless, Johnson remains significantly behind Trump and Clinton in the polls. Voting third party is difficult to do since it seems to be less popular. Some argue that a vote for Johnson is a waste of a vote and also helps support Clinton or Trump. Comedians Bill Maher and Sarah Silverman spent time on Real Time with Bill Maher to scold former Sanders supporters on shifting their support to Johnson. Silverman pushed the idea that Sanders supporters should shift their support to Clinton since she is “the only candidate that will help make Sanders’ goals a reality.”
Both Maher and Silverman voted third party in the 2000 election, something they now are claiming as a mistake. Many news sources warn against “wasting” your vote on a third-party. On the other side, many people push that voting third party is not a waste. Bernie Sanders has spoken out on ABC’s “This Week,” saying “I think if you’re voting for somebody else in the sense of not supporting Clinton because she doesn’t live up to all of your specifications or all of your ideas, I think, in a sense, it is a vote for Trump”. Sanders also took to CBS to say “this moment in history [is] for a presidential election, [it] is not the time for a protest vote.” A protest vote is a vote that is cast in order to demonstrate voter dissatisfaction with either the candidates or the political system. Protest votes have included people casting votes for Johnson, as well as fictional candidates including names like “Deez Nuts” and “Harambe.” While we’ve seen dissatisfaction associated with this election, many are urging that protest voting will do no good in stopping Trump or Clinton from winning the presidential race.
