Gary Johnson Polls Surge, Mitt Romney May Endorse Libertarian Candidate

Gary Johnson polls are up! Gary Johnson is running as a third-party candidate in the presidential race, and many Americans feel that he has a shot at taking away crucial votes from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The former Republican Governor Of New Mexico is running as a Libertarian and has chosen former Massachusetts Republican Governor William Weld as his running mate.

Together, these two men are trying to make history.

According to the History News Network, there is a good chance that we will get to see Gary Johnson debate Hillary Clinton (D) and Donald Trump (R) on the national stage.

“The various polls which decide who should compete in the upcoming three Presidential debates and one Vice-Presidential debate could allow Johnson and Weld to participate, with the threshold being 15 percent in a group of polls by a certain date in September, as was allowed for John Anderson in 1980 and H. Ross Perot in 1992. If that occurred, that could have a major impact on the race,” reports the History News Network.

At the moment, Gary Johnson polls have him sitting around 12 percent.

People are hungry to vote FOR someone as opposed to voting against someone else.#teamgov #election2016 pic.twitter.com/s98fcWrjgk

— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) July 31, 2016

Many voters feel that Gary Johnson is a better alternative to both Clinton and Trump and although he is running as a Libertarian, he may be getting some major backing in this race. It has been rumored that Mitt Romney, 2012 presidential candidate, is considering endorsing the Johnson/Weld ticket, and this could be huge. If Romney endorses Johnson, it’s possible that other politicians, such as Ted Cruz, will endorse them as well. According to the report, this would give more legitimacy to this third-party race and could really shake things up come November 8.

If you are familiar with the voting process, you probably know that it all comes down to electoral votes. Even if Gary Johnson wins the popular vote, he would have to win overall in enough states to pull from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The History News Network lists a few states that “could” end up giving Johnson their electoral votes. Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Although these states would only supply Gary Johnson with 32 electoral votes, that could be enough to keep Clinton and Trump from running away with the race. It could, potentially, keep both Clinton and Trump out of the White House.

“In theory, if neither major party candidate wins 270 electoral votes, the election would be thrown to the House of Representatives for the first time since 1824. In a Republican controlled House, Gary Johnson, in theory, could be elected President with the lowest percentage of popular votes in American history, far less than John Quincy Adams’ 30.9 percent in 1824 or Abraham Lincoln’s 39.8 percent of the vote in 1860.”

If Gary Johnson was elected president in this manner, it would be the first time ever that America had a libertarian president. It would be the first time that the Commander In Chief wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican since the establishment of the political parties (since both existed). If this happened, Johnson would be taking over the country with Mike Pence or Tim Kaine as the House of Representatives would have to choose between the top two candidates for vice president under the 12th Amendment to the Constitution. If that was the case, it would more than likely be Johnson/Pence (because the House of Representatives is currently controlled by the Republicans).

More than 300,000 have signed the petition to demand that @GovGaryJohnson be in the @debates:https://t.co/DO9DrVEUs5 pic.twitter.com/aK5xkUQrx1

— DFW for Gary Johnson (@TX4Gary) August 1, 2016

While many voters are willing to consider Gary Johnson for president because they can’t stand the alternatives, the likelihood of it happening is very low. Gary Johnson will undoubtedly be taking votes away from the other parties, but he probably won’t have a shot in the dark when it comes to becoming president of the United States based on the aforementioned process. There may be thousands of people who would vote for Gary Johnson if his name was on the ballot, but there simply aren’t enough people willing to vote for a revolution, suggests the History News Network.

Would you vote for Gary Johnson?

[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]