No Labels seems intent on spoiling the 2024 election by threatening to run a third-party presidential ticket. The “nonpartisan” group touting “unity” says they are doing this because of the deep dissatisfaction the American people have with their likely choice of 2024 candidates: President Joe Biden and the other one, the leading Republican Donald Trump. No Labels points to months-old polling reflecting that dissatisfaction.
Just this week, Larry Hogan, former Republican governor of Maryland and now a national co-chair of No Labels, told the PBS News Hour “almost 70 percent of the people in America do not want Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be president.” For some reason No Labels is letting former Democrat Joe Lieberman do the talking, and he said the same earlier this month: “[T]he American people are saying in polls, 60 to 70 percent of the American people don't want the choice of Trump and Biden again, they want something different.”
Here’s Sen. Joe Manchin, the putative Democrat No Labels is currently propping up: “We hear it every day. ‘Enough is enough. Can’t you work together? What about us? What about this great country of ours?’”
It’s time for a reality check for Manchin and No Labels, and it comes from the latest Civiqs survey for Daily Kos. Voters might not be thrilled with the choices, but they are definitely not clamoring for a third-party option. In fact, they reject that idea pretty soundly in that 66% would not vote for a spoiler.
“Two-thirds of voters (66%) would not consider voting for a third-party candidate at all, including 78% of Democratic voters, 68% of Republican voters, and 50% of Independent voters,” Civiqs found. “Only 7% say they would definitely vote for a third-party candidate; 21% of voters would at least consider it.”
As Kerry Eleveld wrote, the survey “confirms what multiple other surveys have found: scant excitement for either candidate, with just 41% of registered voters calling themselves ‘very excited’ while about half as many (22%) say they are ‘not excited at all.’” That’s an argument for No Labels, right? Wrong. Look at the next bit: “Motivated, however, is a different story, with 77% of the electorate saying they are ‘very motivated’ to vote in a 2024 Biden-Trump rematch, including 82% of Democrats, 82% of Republicans, and 68% of independents.”
Voters are “very motivated” to vote in the 2024 election whether or not they’re excited about the prospect of Biden versus Trump. They know the stakes, and they don’t want to chance the candidate they despise sneaking in because of a third-party spoiler. Manchin should take note that Democrats are the most locked in for Biden and that right off the bat, two-thirds of Americans say they wouldn't even consider a third-party candidate. That’s including half of the self-described “independents” who are still committed to voting for either the Democrat or the Republican.
The high voter motivation combined with a very healthy dismissal of a third-party candidate shoots every justification by No Labels for interfering in this election to hell. So why are they doing this? Maybe it’s just the grift. Maybe they just like to be assholes. Or maybe they’re simply Republicans who can’t stomach supporting Trump. Whatever the motivation, they’re playing a dangerous game.
Sign the petition: Replace Sen. Joe Manchin as energy chairman.
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