Libertarian ‘spoiler’ could hold key to White House
Trump could pay price as dramatic rise of third party presidential candidate threatens to shake up race
AS America prepares to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, two of the most unpopular presidential candidates in history, voters have yearned for a third choice.
Now, in a flurry of recent national polls, Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, has suddenly surged above 10 per cent.
Winning would take a miracle but, with little fanfare, Mr Johnson has emerged as a potential “spoiler” who could cost Mr Trump the White House.
Mr Johnson, 63, who made a fortune in construction, is running as the nominee of the Libertarian Party, which has secured a place on the ballot in all 50 states for the Nov 8 election.
“Someone told me today that against Clinton and Trump a dead person could get 10 per cent,” Mr Johnson told The
Sunday Telegraph. “But guess what? Dead person isn’t on the ballot … There’s a growing realisation that it’s just me.”
On Friday Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said he would consider voting Libertarian – a move that could spur other mainstream Republicans to switch.
It would be the highest profile support yet for the third party, which has traditionally been viewed as a fringe, and somewhat chaotic, group with some outlandish policies. In 2012 it secured just one per cent of the vote.
But the ticket this time has an exceptional amount of experience. Mr Johnson’s running mate is Bill Weld, Mr Romney’s predecessor as Republican governor of Massachusetts.
Mr Romney said he had “enormous respect” for Mr Weld and would find it easy to vote for him.
He told CNN: “I’ll get to know Gary Johnson better and see if he’s someone who I could end up voting for.”
Asked if he felt any guilt about taking votes from Mr Trump and the Republican Party, Mr Johnson laughed. “None,” he said, before going on to call Mr Trump “absolutely racist”.
“I think he’d be horribly dangerous and he’s sounding very fascist,” added Mr Johnson. He described Mr Trump’s plans to deport 11 million as uninformed, and the pledge to build a fence across the border as “just wacky”.
“What he says about immigration is nothing short of incendiary,” he added. “It’s just human nature that we all look for a scapegoat.”
He added: “For elected Republicans to say they continue to support Trump even though he’s saying these things, I think it means we’re seeing the demise of the Republican Party.”
Libertarian policies, summed up as “minimum government, maximum freedom,” appeal to many Republicans who want to slash taxes, eviscerate government spending, extend gun rights, and avoid overseas military commitments.
As governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 Mr Johnson’s fiscal conservatism was legendary, earning him the nickname “Governor Veto” as he set records for rejecting spending bills.
As president he would eliminate numerous government departments and replace all income and corporate taxes with a national 28 per cent sales tax.
The Libertarians differ vastly from Mr Trump on social issues including abortion, same-sex marriage and drugs. The party’s official position is to legalise all drugs, which effectively makes it unelectable. Mr Johnson believes this is “not practical” for all drugs but supports doing so for cannabis.
Until recently he was chief executive of one of the biggest US cannabis firms. Mr Johnson, a teetotaller, said he had given up using the drug for the duration of the election race. “I need to be as sharp as I can possibly be,” he said.
In his spare time, the Libertarian presidential nominee climbs mountains. He has scaled the highest peaks on all seven continents, including Everest in 2003. He believes this was good training for taking on Mr Trump, describing it as: “S--- will happen, but keep on plugging.”
Mr Johnson’s key goal is to get into the televised debates. To do so he needs to hit 15 per cent in the polls, just three points higher than the 12 per cent he scored in a Fox News poll last week.
He also believes he will take significant numbers of votes from Hillary Clinton, including many Democrats who supported Bernie Sanders.
Worryingly for Mrs Clinton, the Fox poll showed him narrowly besting her among independents.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Centre for Politics, said Mr Johnson was nonetheless likely to take more Republican than Democrat votes, and if he maintained his current support “the race is over”.
He said: “Trump has really roiled a lot of Republicans. None of those people are going to vote for Clinton. A lot of them are going to do something like write in another name or vote Libertarian. It’s a wild year.”