It’s happening. A third party candidate may be playing spoiler in this presidential election, and their name isn’t Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. It’s Evan McMullin.
The former CIA agent hailing from Utah launched an independent presidential bid to give Republicans and conservatives an option to vote for someone who shared their views and values, so they didn’t have to vote for Donald Trump.
Initially, McMullin was dismissed as a candidate who wouldn’t have an impact on the race, but that’s starting to change.
A new poll, released by Utah newspaper, Deseret News, on Tuesday, shows that McMullin (along with his running mate Mindy Finn) has surged to 22 percent. With a standard deviation of 4.4 percent, McMullin is in a statistical tie with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, who both have 26 percent support in Utah.
This is not a drill, folks. This is really happening.
But how is this happening?
In mid-August, a Public Policy Polling survey found that while Trump was highly unfavorable, particularly with Mormons, he was heavily favored to win Utah, leading Hillary by 20 points in a head-to-head, and 15 points in a four-way race with Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.
The tides began turning when McMullin announced he was running for president in August; as McMullin’s poll numbers rose, Trump’s began to fall.
In mid-September, UtahPolicy.com published a poll showing Trump’s lead shrunk from 20 points to 15 points; McMullin, in the span of a month, went from zero percent to 9 percent.
Then, a poll released later in September from the Salt Lake Tribune found that Trump’s lead shrunk to 9 percent over Clinton, and McMullin rose to 12 percent support.
Utah hasn’t voted for a non-Republican since Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in 1964.
This could explain why Trump took to Twitter to vent his issues with disloyal Republicans.
Disloyal R’s are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win – I will teach them!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
