Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson believes right now he's getting approximately 10 percent support in his quixotic run for the White House.
That might be news to you, since there haven't been many polling firms of any national note including his name when they survey registered and/or likely voters (Though Gallup on Friday did publish a survey showing Johnson with 3 percent of the vote).
"We’ve got all the telephone numbers (to the pollsters) listed on our website, Garyjohnson2012.com and hey, just get on the phone and ask them to include my name. That’s all," he said succinctly when the issue came up.
The former New Mexico Governor (1994-2002) says that in most national surveys, there's around 10 percent that don't choose either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney — and he believes that 10 percent is his, if pollsters included his name when they call up voters about the 2012 race, notwithstanding the Gallup poll.
The lack of respect for third-party candidates in most national elections, and especially in presidential races, is long and profound. Yes, Ross Perot who was able to get nearly 19 percent of the vote in 1992. John Anderson got 8 percent in 1980. But no one else has done better than that in decades. Even Ralph Nader, derided to this day by some liberals for allegedly taking votes from Democrat Al Gore in 2000, only obtained 2.7 percent of the vote that year.
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2012.