Back when Bernie Sanders was the 74-year old thorn in the side of Hillary Clint0n, his supporters (and even Donald Trump) continuously called out and protested the DNC for tilting the scales in favor of Clinton during the Democratic primaries.
After the DNC leak went public by Julian Assange’s Wikileaks just before the Democratic National Convention in July, Bernie supporters and everyone with deep disdain for then-DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz felt vindicated that the election was, in fact, rigged.
During the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Bernie supporters led massive protests through the streets calling on the resignation of Wasserman Schultz. To their delight, she resigned that week.
Gary Johnson might be a Libertarian with little name recognition, but it appears that he’s getting similar treatment to Bernie Sanders during the general election cycle.
Last week, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that only the Democratic and Republican candidates qualified for the first round of televised debates on September 26th. Johnson missed the 15 percent cutoff to make it into the first of three debates.
On Wednesday, Johnson led a small protest outside the CPD in Washington, D.C. of about 150 supporters bearing masks and signs with the intent of shaming those in charge of the decision of keeping Johnson out of the debate. Johnson currently sits at 8.8 percent according to the Real Clear Politics polling average trailing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but leading Green Party candidate Jill Stein by almost 6 points.
Although he’ll miss the first round of debates, Johnson recognizes he has a better chance of making an impact on this election than Ross Perot did in 1992.
“Democrats, what, 26 percent?” Johnson said to his supporters during the CPD protest. “Republicans, what, 28 percent? The rest of the population is independent, and where is their representation?”
Despite polling in single digits nationally, Johnson is a hit with millennials who feel disenfranchised by the political process. According to a Quinnipiac poll released on Sept. 15th, Johnson’s support among millennials surged by 13 points from 16 to 29 percent in the span of 20 days.
In that same span, Clinton’s support from millennials dropped 17 points from 48 to 31 percent. Meanwhile, Trump’s millennial support grew by 2 points from 24 to 26 percent.
Trump may trail Johnson in millennial support, but seeing Clinton’s millennial base falter might be the edge he needs to win in November.
