Here is a link to the three-hour minor party presidential debate held in Denver on the evening of October 8. It lasts three hours and included the presidential nominees of the Green, Constitution, Socialism & Liberation, and American Solidarity Parties, and also independent candidate Brock Pierce.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Ratings ???
1 voter in 10,000 ???
Why would you post and admit something like that!
I watched about half of it live, I do need to finish it later at some point. Technical issues aside, I found it informative (though I already knew who I was going to vote for), and it was nice to see. I wish Jo had been there, but eh, if she doesn’t want the publicity and chance to speak her issues, that’s on her. Howie was very nicely animated, and Gloria, as expected, had many good points. Don Blankenship, however, was just boring. I know that only policy should matter, but that’s my few cents on what I saw.
It wouldn’t be publicity for Jorgensen. She would have brought 90% of the audience. All she would have been doing is giving a bigger platform for her rivals.
Look at the views on the Free and Equal youtube channel. The 2020 debate has 1,569 views so far. The 2016 debate, which did not include Johnson but which saw far more people looking for a 3rd party alternative, has 1,513 views. The 2012 debate, which included Gary Johnson, has 12,740 views.
The 2020 debate has 26,000 views on Facebook. I’m not aware of it being broadcast anywhere else. The 2012 debate was broadcast on other youtube channels, like Russia Today (92,000) and ORA TV (181,000). Add the 2020 Facebook and Youtube views together and it comes to around 28,000. Add the 2012 youtube channel views together and it comes to 285,000.
Maybe I’m missing other outlets for the 2020 debate. Maybe there are other explanations for the drastically lower view count, including that the view count will rise between now and election day. But the lack of Libertarian participation might be the major factor.
The Libertarian nominee should have chosen to participate.
The drop in viewership has nothing to do with Jorgenson’s lack of participation. Nobody knows who she is.
The decline in viewership is likely due to the fact that the country has little or no appetite for a third-party candidate this year — this
election is all about removing the dangerous menace in the White House — as the little-known Jorgenson and her small army of anti-government followers will sadly discover on Nov. 3rd.
This election is all about being thrown out and no more elections ever again since we ALREADY have a PERFECT LEADER. There will be no transition, only a continuation.
I would be very upset with Jo Jorgensen, to the point where I may drop my support for her, for skipping the Free and Equal debate, IF not for the fact that every candidate in that debate, except for Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, is NOT on enough ballots to even have a theoretical chance to with the election. All but Hawkins are on less than 20 ballots. That is pretty pathetic. While I like debates, and I think they are important for the process, a good case can be made that there is not as much of a point in debating candidates who couldn’t even get on enough ballots to have even a theoretical chance at winning.
There ought to be a debate set up between Jo Jorgensen and Howie Hawkins. Hawkins is on the ballot in 29 states.
Hawkins is also on the ballot in DC.
MLB – Yes, the average man on the street doesn’t know who Jorgensen is, but the average man on the street doesn’t watch 3rd party debates, even in 2016. Libertarians do know who Jorgensen is, though. And they would watch the Libertarian candidate in a 3rd party debate. Libertarians are the missing viewers between 2012 and 2020, not the average man on the street.
Libertarians are certainly aware of who Jorgensen is, and there is solid evidence that they are fully supportive of her:
* Jorgensen’s fundraising between January 1st and August 31st, after adjusting for inflation, is greater than any other LP Presidential candidate besides 2016 and 1980. And 1980 was due to Koch money.
* As of September 30, there are more active donors to the Libertarian national committee than there were at the peak of the 2016 cycle, which was January of 2017.
* Voter registrations are showing a solid gain. Even after zeroing out Maine, Maryland, and New Hampshire, the LP is still going to pick up a good 50,000 or more. If those states were added back in, the LP would be looking at potentially its best voter registration growth ever, after 2016.
* I only have Signature Membership data back to 2005, but 2020 has so far averaged more new Signature Members per month than any other year besides 2016. By a lot. It’s 70% higher than 2012.
So Libertarian engagement seems pretty high right now, even if it seems muted in comparison to 2016. It certainly seems reasonable that Jorgensen participation would have substantially increased viewership of the debate.
A candidate only needs to win 1/4 of the EC votes to guarantee a finish among the top three — if you have 134 votes, at most twand if nobody wins a majority and the race goes to the House, they get to pick from the top three.
Sorry about that. Should say: “If you have 134 votes, at most two others can be ahead of you.”
Richard Winger is censoring posts calling Jorgensen a Marxist, even though she is. She supports Marxist BLM. She’s endorsed by one open Marxist that we know of. She left the LP for decades. Fundraising being up is due to more people alive and a weaker dollar due to inflation, among other reasons. It’s still down from Harry Browne.
She will be extremely lucky to see 1%.
There are six candidates that have access to at least 270 EC votes, if you include write-in access:
Trump
Biden
Jorgensen
Hawkins
La Riva
Carroll