Voters Say Let Barr and Nader in on the Debates
For as long as I can remember, and that is a long time, the Presidential debates have been between the candidates of the two major parties. Third party candidates and independents have wanted to be included, but the Democrats and Republicans have seen to it that it did not happen. Except in 1980 when Robert Anderson, a former Republican who was running as an independent, took part in the first debate. However, Jimmy Carter refused to participate if Anderson was included, so the debate was just between Anderson and Ronald Regan.
The third party and independent candidates have tried to be included, but to no avail. The reasoning behind excluding them has been that it would take away from the discussion of the real issues between the candidates of the two major parties. This time around, according to the latest poll from Zogby, a majority of the voters want both Bob Barr and Ralph Nader to be included. This is not entirely surprising since there are more voters who say they are independent now than ever and Bob Barr is drawing about 4% in the polls, although he is not included in many of them either.
The poll shows that 55% of all voters, no matter what party they belong to want Libertarian candidate, Bob Barr to be included in the Presidential debates and 46% think Ralph Nader deserves a spot as well.
One would expect independents to want Bob Barr to be on stage and 69% of them said so. But the surprise comes with the Democrats, 52% and Republicans 50% who also want to hear from him. This only goes to show that the voters are not firmly behind the candidates of the two major parties and want to hear what the independents and third party candidates have to say.
As for Ralph Nader, 45% of all the votes what him to have his say and it breaks down to 59% of the independents, 41% of the Democrats and 42% of the Republicans. That is not a bad showing when you take into consideration that he has run in the past two elections and most of the voters are familiar with his beliefs.
The details get even more interesting when you dig deeper into the statistics. Breaking it down by gender, 60% of the men said yes as did 52% of the women when it came to Bob Barr and with Ralph Nader, it is 49% of the men and 45% of the women.
With the independent votes expected to play a big roll in the election this time around – and this is supported by the polls – it would be a good idea for both Barack Obama and John McCain to give the voters what they want and let the other candidates be heard.
Comment by Pennib on 18 August 2008:
I’d like to see Baldwin and Keyes in the debates as well. I don’t see much difference between Barr and Nader.
Comment by June on 19 August 2008:
That was John Anderson who got into the debates. And you forgot to mention Ross Perot. It was the boost that Perot got by being in the debates that caused the Republicrats to make sure no one other than their candidates would ever have that chance again.
And things are getting even worse. Now the 800 pound gorillas are pushing ballot access “reform” that has an open primary followed by a top two run-off– a system that guaranties that only Demopublicans will make it to the general election ballot.
What we really need is ranked choice voting in both primaries and general elections so that the parties are free to choose who best represents their platform while allowing voters to vote their conscience in the gneral without worrying about the spoiler effect.
Visit http://www.fairvte.com for more info on ranked choice voting.
Comment by June on 19 August 2008:
oops! That should have been http://www.fairvote.com
Comment by Matt Alley on 19 August 2008:
Pennib – you don’t see any difference between Nader and Barr? You obviously haven’t done much homework. I support both of their efforts, and while there are definite similarities (such as a foreign policy that doesn’t include preemptive violence, ending the illogical “war on drugs,” etc.) there are major differences in their platforms. Personally, I don’t see how the “tiny government” crowd has any real solutions to some major problems, such as environmental destruction, that are results of our destructively large population. Anyway, you should really research the platforms of these two candidacies. Regardless of whether Nader, Barr, McKinney, Baldwin, Keyes are “similar,” I think anyone that can pull in 1% or above, should absolutely be allowed into the televised debates. Until we have an election process that is rooted in fairness and justice, I don’t know how anyone can even consider this a democracy. We need instant run-off elections with open debates! For anyone who is interested, write to the Commision on Presidential Debates and to Google, asking that they stand up for democracy and allow all candidates polling at 1% and above into the debates. Also, one final rant….whie I support the Libertarian Party much more than the major parties, I have seroius doubts about their nomination of Barr. I mean, the guy was voting for the Patriot Act just a couple of years ago. He was also supporting the war on drugs very recnetly. His voting record is very suspect, but he clamis to be a true Libertarian, so I don’t know.
Comment by Mario K M on 19 August 2008:
Mr. DemoPublican,
Tear down that wall! Late 3rd parties in the debates.
Comment by Pennib on 24 August 2008:
I grant that there are serious differences in the platforms of the two parties, the Green Party is known for it’s support of governmental regulations affecting the environment, but the Libertarians have chosen a candidate that voted for (and yes, I’ve heard the reasoning) the Patriot Act, argueably one of the greatest destructions of our freedoms since the ALien and Sedition Acts. {Past record is a better indicator of future action than present rhetoric}