Barring a miracle, the two major parties later this month will choose the most disliked candidates in at least three decades as their nominees. Despite what the pundits are saying, there is still time for another choice, one that voters will embrace.
Americans desperately want that other choice. A survey in May by the firm Data Targeting found that a majority of registered voters – and 91 percent of those under 29 – “favor having an independent presidential ticket in 2016.” And roughly two-thirds of respondents “are at least somewhat, pretty or very willing to support a candidate for President who is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
The problem is that the Democratic and Republican parties have stacked the deck against competitors through onerous ballot-access rules, a rigged campaign finance system, and a fall debate process built to exclude anyone outside the duopoly. But all of these obstacles can be overcome, even at this late stage in the game.
The first step is to create a pathway for another candidate by collecting enough signatures, state by state, to get on the ballot. The deadline has passed so far in only a handful of states, whose rules will likely be challenged on constitutional grounds. A coalition which I advise, Better for America, has embarked on a ballot-access campaign under the belief that, with a viable pathway built, a strong candidate will step up to use it.
And, beyond the bankrupt two-party system, America has dozens of men and women who would make excellent presidents. A little over a year ago, I wrote that the race was shaping up as a Clinton vs. Bush rerun and wondered, “Is that all there is?” At the time, I offered a list of 15 potential presidents who fell into three categories: actual independents like Sen. Angus King of Maine, Republicans and Democrats who would never be nominated because they don’t hew to party orthodoxy, like former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and non-political leaders like retired Admiral William McRaven, the man responsible for killing Osama bin Laden and now head of the University of Texas system.
Little did I know in April, 2015 that, with the election four months away, Americans would be even more unhappy with the choices the two major parties are offering. Little did I know we would face a real national emergency, with the political system deep in crisis.
A year ago, polls showed that Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic nominee even then, was viewed ambivalently by the public, those viewing her favorably balancing those viewing her unfavorably. Today, an average of surveys compiled by RealClearPolitics finds that her unfavorables outweigh her favorables by 15 percentage points – and those results predate the severe criticism leveled at her by FBI Director James Comey. Donald Trump, whom no one expected to win the nomination in the spring of 2015, today has unfavorables topping favorables by an astounding 28 points.
These figures led Harry Enten to write on FiveThirtyEight, the popular analytical website: “Clinton and Trump are both more strongly disliked than any nominee at this point in the past 10 presidential cycles.”
By a margin of 55 to 42 percent, American voters agreed that they felt “helpless” about the 2016 election, according to a poll in May conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs. That poll found that just 8 percent of respondents considered the Republican Party to be very or extremely responsive to what ordinary voters think; only 14 percent had that opinion about the Democratic Party. Another poll, by USA Today/Suffolk University, found 61 percent were “alarmed” about the election, compared with just 23 percent who were excited. The poll, released this week, also found that nearly half of voters were still undecided.
This is not how a democracy is supposed to work.
One response is to pull the covers over your head and go back to sleep, hoping to wake up in four years and find everything different, with sensible choices near the middle rather than at the extremes, with a Democrat and a Republican of stellar ethics and responsibility running for president – people our kids can look up to.
A better response is to realize that there’s still time. We’re not stuck with picking the lesser of two evils. We can, if we get to work now, vote for someone who’s a much, much better choice. Need evidence? On July 7, Better for America received confirmation that it’s on the ballot in New Mexico. Many other states will follow.
James K. Glassman, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, is a senior advisor to Better for America, a coalition preparing a path to the presidency in 2016 for an independent candidate. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
