More than 6 million Americans voted for someone other than Donald Trump as Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, but from the media coverage of the election you would never know.
In 2020, however, neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump’s candidates hope to change that, and win more of the vote than ever before – and get some well-deserved recognition for it.
Howie Hawkins, a former UPS worker and longtime political activist, has been nominated by the Green Party for president, and is struggling to get through the Republican and Democratic voices of the media to convince Americans that there are other options than the dominant two parties.
He is not easy to find.
A direct problem has been coronavirus, which has prevented Hawkins, who lives in Syracuse, New York, from holding events and traveling the country. Instead, he relied on virtual events, though that did not work too poorly: “I probably talk to more people than I used to,” Hawkins told the Guardian.
A bigger problem, and that probably would have existed even without the pandemic, has attracted media attention to his campaign.
“The trouble is to get our message across in the main story,” Hawkins says. “We send out news stories, we tweet, we’re on social media and we post stories.”
When CNN held a ‘town hall for climate crisis’ in September 2019, Hawkins and the party spied on their opportunity.
The Green Party originally proposed the Green New Deal – a sprawling climate package adopted by progressive Democrats such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez – in 2010, and Hawkins said he set out to portray producers as “the original Green New Dealer”.
It did not work, and the Green Party, which has the most comprehensive climate change policy of each party, was absent from the stage.
The Green Party is perhaps best known for its climate policy, but its focus is on the environment and on progressive politics as a whole. Hawkins would set a minimum wage of $ 20 – Democrats favor a minimum of $ 15 – universal rent control, Medicare for All and free college school.
In the unlikely event that they have to win the election, the party has also outlined its urgent proposals for police reform, which are laid out in an 8000-word essay online.
It is a platform that has similarities to the views of left-wing Democrats such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, but will likely one day be approved by the party’s more central leadership. Hawkins said he has attracted a number of Democrats who are disillusioned with the party.
“We are constantly being supplemented with really angry Democrats,” Hawkins said. “Progressive Democrats get frustrated and come to the Green Party.”
For all of Hawkins’ detailed, and potentially Democratic-wooing platform, however, the party has little chance of winning in November, a fact that should not be just frustrating for Hawkins and his team.
In 2018, a Gallup poll found 57% of Americans believe a third major political party is needed – a belief that has more or less kept stable over the past 10 years.
Part of the Green Party’s mission is to change that. The party supports a nationally popular vote for presidential election, where voters rank candidates by preference. The system would allow people to vote for more progressive candidates – like Hawkins – without fear that their vote would give victory to, in this case, Trump.
That fear among leftists that a vote for anyone other than the Democratic Party could give Trump the victory is another problem Hawkins faces.
In 2016, Green Party candidate Jill Stein faced heavy criticism in the wake of Clinton’s loss to Trump. Nationwide, 1,449,370 people voted for Stein, but crucially she received major votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – each of which Trump narrowly won. If Hillary Clinton had won those three states, she would have been president.
It means that Stein became a scapegoat for some – although there is not much evidence that Stein did not run for office in Clinton.
In Pennsylvania, Stein won 49,678 votes, which means that almost every one of her voters would have crossed over to Clinton to close her hole of 46,765 for Trump – which is highly unlikely. Polling specialists on the political website FiveThirtyEight unanimously feel that Stein’s run was used as a scapegoat for Clinton’s loss, rather than as a legitimate reason.
Some third-party presidential candidates insist that they have a chance to win the presidency despite every chance. Hawkins, however, is refreshingly honest when asked about his realistic goal.
“What would really be a big win would be if we got 5% of the vote,” Hawkins said.
“That qualifies us for a public campaign subsidy for the 2024 general election for president. If we got to 5%, there would be at least $ 20 million waiting for our presidential card in 2024, which would be a leap. That 5% is benchmark. ”
It may not sound like much, but considering the Green Party’s previous best performance was the 2.7% won by Ralph Nader in 2000, it’s an ambitious goal.
“That would be quite a leap for us,” Hawkins said. “But with Trump collapsing, and Biden not being very progressive, maybe it’s within our reach.”
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