Another new poll shows Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson at 10 percent nationally.
Johnson needs to exceed the 15-point threshold in national polling to qualify for the presidential debate stage against likely opponents Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The Morning Consult poll shows that when Johnson is referred to as an independent, Clinton leads Trump 37-35 percent with Johnson at 10 percent. But when he is identified as a Libertarian, Trump leads Clinton 37-36, with Johnson at 10 percent. While both results fall within the poll’s two-point margin of error, the results may run counter to the idea that the Libertarian nominee would disproportionately steal disaffected GOP votes.
Interestingly, 70 percent of Johnson’s supporters polled said the main reason they support Johnson is because they do not like either major party candidate. A whopping 61 percent of respondents said they did not know who Johnson is or have any opinion of him, while another eight percentage points incorrectly identified him as a comedian, cooking show host, news show host, professional athlete or CEO of a fortune 500 company.
Johnson is the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president and is running alongside former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld. Johnson and Weld are both former Republican governors turned Libertarians who may need to earn the support of disaffected Republicans in order to gain a foothold on the presidential debate stage.
The Morning Consult poll surveyed 2,001 registered voters online from June 1-4.
