Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie has been saying for months that his internal polls show growing support for his third-party candidacy for governor, and the mainstream media is starting to pay attention after today's Quinnipiac poll shows him with 9 percent of the vote, clearly taking independent voters away from Charlie Crist, and to a lesser extent, Rick Scott.
The poll also shows that with over 100 days left until Election Day, Floridians are already turned off to the race between the two major candidates, with the majority of voters saying that they believe both Scott and Crist are neither honest nor trustworthy.
"I think it's just a total voter disgust with the two-party system with both Rick Scott and Charlie Crist," Wyllie told CL this morning. "Voters are tired of the same old politics in Florida and across the country, and I sincerely believe that probably the majority of voters are basically Libertarian in their philosophy, and when they hear there is a third choice, they're drawn to it, and they want to vote for something instead of holding their nose and voting for the lesser evil."
Officially the poll has Crist at 39 percent, Scott at 37 percent and Wyllie at 9 percent. Taking the Libertarian candidate out of the mix gives Crist a five-point lead, at 45-40. Amongst independents asked to choose between just Crist and Scott, Crist is up 45-38 percent, clearly showing that some of Wyllie voters would support Crist if Wyllie were not in the mix.
But he very much is.
Interestingly, an overwhelming number of voters in the survey — 92 percent — say they really don't know much at all about Wyllie, a Palm Harbor resident and IT consultant. He's against Obamacare, wary of foreign intervention (and never without a vote in Congress), supports ending the Federal Reserve System, and opposes most if not all trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA. He supports medical marijuana and the right for individuals to bear arms without any restrictions.
When asked how he intends on getting his message out to millions of Floridians who still don't know him, he says it will be pure grass-roots — and not money — that is his only option in spreading the word. That includes a 30-cities-in-30-days tour up and down the state beginning next month, adding that his volunteer base has grown to over 1,200 people statewide.
"I think what we need to establish in the minds of the voter is that the Libertarian model is viable and is the right solution, and if we get the opportunity to do that, if we get to continue to increase our media presence, and we get our opportunity in the debates to do that, I think we can give the voters exactly what they're looking for, and have been looking for a long time and this is a really truly limited government solution to the problems that we face," he says.
Even though he is becoming a larger factor in the race, Wyllie predicts that Scott and Crist will ignore him as long as they're able to. "Because they don't want to have to deal with me. They don't know how to engage in a three-way fight. All they know is how to sling mud at each other, and quite frankly it's hurting both of them."
