Why a vote for Gary Johnson is not "wasted"

A vote for the Libertarian Party
is an important vote this November.

All evidence at this point seems to point to former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson winning the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. But some people I have spoken to said they will not vote for Johnson in the general election because he is "not viable". However, this is simply not true, and even if it were true, such an excuse would not be acceptable.

As of now, Johnson is polling at 9% against Obama and Romney. He needs 15% to get into the debates, so with a little more support, he can promote Libertarianism on a national stage. This would be a tremendous victory for the LP in its own right. Furthermore, if the Libertarian Party gets 5% of the vote nationwide, the FEC will give it approximately $90 million dollars. This would be a tremendous sum of money going forward. Even if Johnson can't win the election, this is reason enough to vote for him.

However, if enough people pay attention to Libertarianism, Johnson does have a chance of winning this November. 68% of Americans are considering voting for a third party. If even half of those vote for Johnson, that's over a third of the popular vote. Since Johnson's support has come roughly evenly from Romney and Obama's camps, it is feasible he will win a good number of electoral votes. To those who say that he won't get that much - in 1992, 39% of Americans were considering a third party candidate, and 19% ended up supporting Ross Perot. That is approximately half. Couldn't Johnson do the same thing? It's entirely feasible.

It's a long way to November. For that matter, it's a long way to the Libertarian Party's convention in Las Vegas in May. But one thing is for sure - a vote for Gary Johnson is not a wasted vote.