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Esquire/NBC News Poll Finds 36% Believe “Two Party System is Broken”

Posted on October 15, 2013 by adminOctober 15, 2013

On October 14, Esquire/NBC News released an extensive poll about political views. Question 27 asks whether the respondent agrees with this statement: The two party system is broken and out of date and America would be better off if there were more than just two political parties. 36% responded “Yes.” The results don’t show how many responded “No” and how many responded “undecided.” Here are the results. The questions aren’t in numerical order, but question 27 is near the top of page nineteen.

The survey broke down all respondents into nine categories. By category, the percentage answering “yes” to question 27 is: Center 33%, Young Liberals 47%, Gospel Left 32%, Minivan Mods 32%, MBA Middle 40%, Pickup Populists 58%, Whatever Man 5%, Righteous Right 38%, Talk Radio Heads 43%. Thanks to Eric Reinhardt for the link.

New Virginia Gubernatorial Poll

Posted on October 15, 2013 by adminOctober 15, 2013

On October 15, a new Poll was released for the Virginia gubernatorial race, showing these results: McAuliffe 46%, Cuccinelli 39%, Sarvis 11%, undecided 4%. See more details here. The poll was carried out by the Judy Ford Watson Center for Public Policy. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

Both Major Party Nominees for Virginia Governor Continue Campaigning by Accusing the Other of Ethics Lapses

Posted on October 15, 2013 by adminOctober 15, 2013

See this story in the Virginian-Pilot, daily newspaper of the Hampton Roads area. The Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia are continuing to campaign by charging each other with fresh accusations of ethics lapses.

Two Parties Are About to Submit Petitions for Ballot Status in Arkansas

Posted on October 14, 2013 by adminOctober 14, 2013

On October 15, the Arkansas Libertarian Party plans to submit approximately 16,000 signatures to become a qualified party in Arkansas again. And on October 22, the Arkansas Green Party expects to submit approximately 15,000 signatures. The state requires 10,000 valid signatures.

This is the fifth election year in a row in which the Arkansas Green Party has completed this petition, and the second for the Libertarians. Arkansas irrationally removes parties from the ballot if they don’t poll 3% for the office at the top of the ticket, every two years. Generally, minor parties can’t poll as much as 3% for President. Both parties were removed after the November 2012 election. It would be more rational for Arkansas to change the 3% vote test to any statewide nominee. Repetitive petition drives are not only exhausting for the parties, but they are expensive and burdensome for election officials as well. On the average, the cost to election administrators to check petitions is $1 per signature.

The only parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, that have polled 3% for President in the last 90 years are the Progressive Party of 1924, the American Independent Party of 1968, and the Reform Party of 1996. UPDATE: see this news story.

Florida Prison Officials Won’t Allow Prisoner Subscribers to Receive their Copies of The Militant

Posted on October 14, 2013 by adminOctober 14, 2013

The Militant is the weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party. It is the only printed weekly newspaper published by any political party in the United States. A recent issue of The Militant had a news story about a hunger strike in certain California prisons. Florida prison officials have refused to allow that issue to be delivered to the 32 prisoners who subscribe to The Militant. See this story from The Militant. Florida prison officials say that if their prisoners read that issue, they may also launch a hunger strike. However, many other newspapers also covered the hunger strike.

It seems somewhat likely that, if the prison doesn’t back down, the ACLU will help The Militant to sue the prison officials.