Polls Show Donald Trump Gains from High Third-Party Support

By John Pudner, BREITBART

Donald Trump gets a crucial two-point bounce when third-party presidential candidates combine for more than 10 percent in multiple polls, according to a Breitbart News analysis.
Those two points could provide the critical margin to Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina.

The 10-percent threshold was reached five times in the 20th Century (1912, 1924, 1948, 1968, and 1992). Ross Perot got 19 percent in 1992 and 8.4 percent in 1996. John Anderson got 6.6 percent in 1980 against Ronald Reagan, and libertarian Ed Clark got 11.7 percent in Alaska in the 1980 election.

There are three reasons why a path to a combined double-digit showing for non-major party nominees is much easier in 2016:

The 10 percent can come from any combination of three credible candidates; Gary Johnson is backed by Purple PAC commercials, Evan McMullin by Mitt Romney’s network, and Jill Stein can pull from Bernie Sanders supporters.

In all past elections, fewer than 10 percent of respondents told pollsters they did not have a favorable view of either the Republican or Democratic nominee, according to Monmouth polls. This figure skyrocketed to 35 percent this year — meaning more than one-third of all voters do not have a favorable opinion of either Clinton or Trump. In summary, the other candidates can appeal to 35 percent to try to get above 10 percent.

Also, the younger and more left-wing voters seem to be more willing to be guided by their own ideals, and so may be less willing than prior third-party voters to give up on their losing candidate in the final stretch, and instead vote for who they regard are the lesser of two evils. They may choose to vote in the hope of building a viable alternative to the two traditional parties for future elections.

The often-quoted two-way polling results averaged by Real Clear Politics now have Hillary Clinton with a 4.1 percent advantage. That advantage assumes that the third-party votes will disappear in the final stretch.

But three of the four most recent polls at the site show either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are just one point ahead in a two-way race — meaning that a strong third-party showing would give Trump a win in all three of the four.

In the four most recent RCP polls in which more than 1o percent of respondents picked another candidate (IBD, Fox News, USA Today, and NBC), Trump gained an average of two points when respondents were forced to pick either Clinton or Trump.

However, in the four most recent polls in which 10 percent or less supported another option (Reuters, Economist, PPP, Monmouth), Trump’s didn’t gain anything when the respondents were forced to choose either Trump or Clinton.

The most recent four-way state polls show Trump ahead by two points in North Carolina, down by one point in Virginia, tied in Ohio, two points down in Florida. So a shift of just two points — whatever the cause — could determine who goes to the White House.

September 5, 2016 | 3 Comments »

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  1. On today JBS, Dershowitz keeps supporting Hillary!!! He has not learned from BHO!!!!
    More and more “Western Liberalism” is in contradiction with IL!

  2. Barack Obama on Clinton News Network: ‘I Remain Confident’ Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Will Pass

    …the sitting president detailed how he plans to….ram through the TPP as his last act as president…..

    Obama pointed back at the successful passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) last year, which greases the skids on a fast-track to help pass trade deals through Congress by killing the ability for any amendments and lowering the Senate vote threshold down to just 51 votes needed for passage rather than 60 for cloture or 67 for a treaty ratification. Because of TPA’s passage, Obama said, he is “confident” he will pass the TPP in the lame duck session of Congress after the election before the new president and new Congress takes office in January.
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/04/barack-obama-on-clinton-news-network-i-remain-confident-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-will-pass/

    the GOP did that……
    they also did this….

    …Obama said. “It removes 18,000 taxes, effectively, tariffs, because we’re a relatively open market and many of our trading partners there have been closed, it gives us a — a huge lever to open up markets for American goods and services. ….”

    Yep, this is the same lie they tell every time…. they are not opening the market to americans but to international corps based abroad who will not pay american taxes except on the final low price sale. All the other segments of production will be lost to american taxation. the markets of the other nations were supposed to have been opened before.. and we dropped our tarrifs so those american internaitonal corps could make profit in china… but instead they used the drop in tariffs to bring in goods to sell at lower prices which deprived the nation of the tax base on all the other segments of production AND the tariffs which cover job loss, unemployment and welfare. The TPP will allow those corps to be protected when they sell their goods tariff and tax free in America… the TPP will not allow america to protect itself as it will be subject to a foreign authority. Its one big fraud on the american people.