Jill Stein Blew It for Hillary Clinton. Will She do the Same for Kamala Harris - Newsweek

[mzmolly]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have dropped out of the presidential race, but that by no means should lead to the conclusion third party candidates won't impact the outcome in November.

While it was unclear whether Kennedy would have pulled more votes from former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, what is clear is that the remaining third-party candidates with ballot access in the swing states, present far more electoral jeopardy to Harris than to the former president. Now, with a presidential race that in all likelihood will come down to one or two percentage points in four or five swing states, third-party candidates that siphon one or two points from a candidate could be absolutely decisive. Most political polling puts the ceiling of Trump's support at 47 percent to 48 percent of the vote. For Trump to win, he must secure a plurality of the votes by virtue of votes for a third-party candidate or candidates denying his opponent a majority.

Little focus has been put on certain third-party candidates, specifically Jill Stein, whose Green Party effort in 2016 is largely viewed as having been responsible for Hillary Clinton's loss of the presidency. Given the fact that Stein's share of voters in 2016 exceeded Trump's margin of victory over Hillary Clinton, Clinton would have won Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and thus the presidency, if Stein had not been in the race.

In 2016, Trump's margin of victory in Pennsylvania was 44,292 voters. Stein's vote was 49,941. In Michigan, Trump's margin was 10,704 and Stein's vote was 51,463. In Wisconsin, Trump's margin was 22,748 and Stein's vote was 31,072.

Unfortunately for Kamala Harris, Jill Stein is back in the 2024 election, having not run in 2020. Why she is back is a good question. She has absolutely no chance of even getting a single electoral vote. However, she has some chance of playing spoiler in a way that would do what she did in 2016 and directly cause Trump to regain the presidency.

More at: NEWSWEEK

[mzmolly]

1. Scarborough pointed out, no Republican would have been President since 1992, were it not

for so called 'progressive' spoilers.

[SocialDemocrat61]

2. Stein preys on weak minded people who

want to believe they are smarter and morally superior than everyone else while she grifts money from Republicans.

[mzmolly]

3. Exactly. Why pretend to be progressive while essentially supporting

Trump?

[Fla Dem]

7. Because she is a tool for the GOP and Russia. She is not a progressive.

It's a good act, but only an act.

[walkingman]

4. Classic narcissism....a shame that she uses "Green" party to label her deplorable behavior

[Demsrule86]

13. The Green Party elected Bush II, and while they didn't single handedly destroy Hilla

they played a role...I hate the Green Party with the intensity of 1000 suns...Green stands 'for Get Republicans elected every November'. So the Green Party attempts to destroy Democrats every election at all levels.

[jcgoldie]

5. Correction: Stein didn't "blow it" for Hillary...

she won it for Vladimir.

[mzmolly]

8. She blew it for humanity as did Ralph Nader.

Imagine how different our world would be without the republican presidents they enabled.

[Mad_Machine76]

6. Hopefully people are wiser to her now

[H2O Man]

9. VP Harris will win.

She has been running a much better campaign than we had in 2016. It's the candidate and her/his campaign that is responsible for either a win or a loss.

[CoopersDad]

14. Thank you for the succinct and simple truth. Candidates matter.

It's hard to remember a year when there wasn't a Nader or a Stein.

Harris has been stunning in her performance as a candidate.

She has what it takes right now to win, even with Stein in the mix.

[mzmolly]

17. The point being made by the opinion piece

is that in a close election, every vote matters. I hope it's not as close as the polls suggest and that Stein will not have an effect of consequence.

[LeftInTX]

18. Green had a nobody in 2020. Libertarians had a fairly popular candidate.

It's amazing how small amounts make a difference.
Stein ran to spoil Hillary, then she ran to spoil Biden. They take advantage of "established, corporatists Dems"

[CoopersDad]

19. I'm curious, did Stein get enough votes in any swing state to impact the outcome?

It seems like unless electors were lost at the state level due to Stein's votes reducing Clinton's share to the point of defeat, that there would not have been an impact except in the popular vote count, which doesn't decide who wins.

Just curious, I'll try to google it.

[LeftInTX]

20. Yes. Wisconsin.

[CoopersDad]

21. Thanks. That sucks.

We need to scrap the electoral college or, at least, end the winner takes all approach that disenfranchises voters.

[Jk23]

15. I could not agree more.

It is a bitter pill for some to swallow but Hillary's campaign was a bit of an own goal.

[democratsruletheday]

16. exactly....

Jill Stein is a POS

[Blue Full Moon]

10. Republicans pay for her to run.

[mzmolly]

11. Yes, and they help her get on the ballot in swing

states.

[Demsrule86]

12. No...A general election overshadowed by the primary was the reason for Hillary's loss...

That and Comey. This is nothin like 2016. One of the reasons poll are shitty is that they use prior years pattern which won't work this year.

[Kid Berwyn]

22. Newsweak trying to stifle the coming Blue Wave

The Turd Reich is showing how scared they are at the thought of having to face the music.

[lees1975]

23. She's not even close to getting the kind of support, financial or otherwise, this time around that she got in 2016.

She's irrelevant, and she's not really pulling voters away from Democrats. I think the progressives who thought it wouldn't matter last time around have learned their lesson.

And this media piece, full of its own self and its own bias, implies that "little has been done to focus on potential third party candidates." Please put some facts down to substantiate this claim. How do you know that? I am helping out with canvassing and with getting out the vote and we are especially doubling down on Green partiers. Some of them do see that they get nowhere with Stein, and they have a better chance with the Democratic nominee, and especially with this Democratic nominee.

[NEOH]

24. Putin/Lara Trump Stooge

I bet the farm that Stein is getting paid big $$$$ to run. Not just from Ruzzia, but also the Trump campaign/Republican Party