Rep. Justin Amash dismissed the notion that he could help reelect President Trump with his third-party bid for the White House.
“The important thing is, we don’t know how the additional candidate changes a race. It’s too impossible to figure out. There are too many calculations involved,” the Michigan Libertarian told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper pointed out to Amash that a recent poll showed just over 10% of voters have an unfavorable view of both Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, indicating that a vast majority of voters may not support a third-party candidate.
Amash said a “plurality” of voters are looking for another choice beyond the Democratic and Republican candidates.
“They might prefer one candidate or the other if you have a two-candidate field, but if you make it a three-candidate field and you have a compelling candidate, they’d be delighted to go to that candidate,” he explained.
No third-party candidate has ever won the presidential election in the modern two-party system, but Amash argued the difference now is voters are disaffected with the partisanship of the Republican and Democratic parties.
“We have a lot of uncertainty right now, and there’s an opening for a Libertarian Party to become a major party in this country,” he said.
