The New York Times of September 23 has this interview with Ralph Nader, written by Katherine Seelye. The title is “Nader, Drawing Votes – from McCain.” The article itself does not actually present the data to support its title, but notes that Nader makes this allegation and accepts it. UPDATE: the New York Times piece has been revised and improved on this point; the link above goes to the updated Times article. Thanks very much to reporter Katherine Seelye for pointing this out. Seelye is a heroine of the ballot access movement. In 1997, she publicized in the Times the story of how the Pennsylvania legislature had quadupled the number of signatures, by amending another election law bill in a 3 a.m. session. The publicity engendered by her story lead to Governor Tom Ridge vetoing that repressive election law bill.
The article says Nader only received one-third of the vote for president in 2004. Actually, he got .381%. It would be more accurate to say he got .4%, or possibly to say he got three-eighths of 1%. He received 465,650 votes, out of a total vote for president of 122,295,345. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for the link.
I think Nader would have been quite pleased with one-third of the vote.
In this election year I always thought the pollsters were missing the third-party/independent vote. Last night a CNN pollster proved my point.
In FL the poll showed Obama & McCain at 46% and 8% Undecided. But when the voters were given a bigger choice the vote was:
Obama – 48%
McCain – 45%
Nader – 4%
Barr – 1%
McKinney – 1%
Undecided – 1%
First it seems McCain is the loser this year to the Third-Party/Independent Candidates in FL. Second the voters are not as Undecided as some think. But I still can not explain why Obama gained.
Some other states – Registered Voters:
COLORADO
Obama – 42%
McCain – 43%
Barr – 3%
McKinney – 2%
Nader – 7%
Undecided – 3%
NEVADA
Obama – 41%
McCain – 41%
Barr – 5%
McKinney – 3%
Nader – 6%
Undecided – 4%
NEW MEXICO
Obama – 50%
McCain – 36%
Nader – 8%
Undecided – 6%
PENNSYLVANIA
Obama – 47%
McCain – 38%
Barr – 1%
Nader – 7%
Undecided – 7%
No, he wasn’t pleased.
In 2004 he was only on the ballot before 50.1% of the voters. He hated having been removed from the ballot in so many states in 2004. And one reason for his attitude was that being removed from the ballot in so many states artifically reduced his national vote total so badly.
I don’t have the exact numbers, but Nader is polling very well in Ohio according to their team. You would also think California would be a state where Nader will rally a lot of votes. Since his campaign really started he has toured the state three times.
It seems an opposite of past years; Nader is polling worst in the Northeast and better in the Midwest. His worst statistical area though is the south.
Does anybody know, mostly directed to you Richard, when Matt Gonzalez will be doing some touring by himself? I know he has done some engagements with Ralph, but it would make sense to send him to some states. I have heard him speak a few times online and he seems to be very good at bashing Obama.
I believe early on they said that Matt Gonzalez would be focusing on speaking along the west coast. He maintains a law practice in San Francisco and I’m not sure he’s even able to campaign fulltime, as was the situation with Winona LaDuke eight years ago. Someone correct me on this if I’m wrong.
With Gonzalez’s hispanic roots I would not be suprised to see him speak in New Mexico and Arizona heading into the election.