Washington (CNN)Gary Johnson is the new punching bag of the 2016 campaign.
The Libertarian presidential candidate is the subject of intensifying ridicule following his latest televised flub when he couldn"t name a world leader he admired during a Wednesday interview with MSNBC"s Chris Matthews. That follows another embarrassing on-air moment last month when, in response to a question about how he would alleviate the plight of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, he responded: "What is Aleppo?"
The gaffes, combined with his failure to make the debate stage and his infinitesimal chance of winning the White House, raise a pressing question: Why is Johnson still in the race?
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton ribbed Johnson Thursday by pretending to struggle when she was asked to name a world leader she admired. But she made clear her view that she and her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, are the only viable candidates.
"Either Donald Trump or I will be the President of the United States," she told reporters on her campaign plane, sending a clear warning to disaffected Democrats flirting with Johnson. "People have to look carefully in making their decision. It will be either him or me."
And gaffes don"t seem to derail a candidate in 2016 the way they once did.
After all, Trump has made statements that are far more outrageous than Johnson"s comments -- on an almost daily basis -- and he is locked in a tight race with Clinton.
It"s debatable whether true Libertarian voters those who support the party because it favors a disentangling from foreign quagmires and a less robust US global role are that bothered that their candidate is not deeply acquainted with the details of the Syrian civil war.
Pressure on Johnson
But it"s not just verbal stumbles that are beginning to build pressure on Johnson.
His political position is also eroding because of his failure to hit the 15% polling threshold needed to muscle his way into the debates between Clinton and Trump.
Back in June, Johnson told The New Yorker that if he missed what he called the political "Super Bowl" "There"s no way to win."
There are reasons -- beyond the disdain that a large proportion of the electorate appears to hold for Clinton and Trump -- for Johnson to stay in the race.
First, he appears to have the chance to make tangible progress for the Libertarian Party across the nation. In 2012, Johnson ran for President and won just under 1% of the electoral vote. Even if he only cracks 5% this time, that would represent an undeniable step forward for the party.
But there"s a more fundamental reason why Johnson may resist calls to quit.
He explained in an op-ed piece in the New York Times on Wednesday that the American political system, by producing such alienating rivals as Clinton and Trump, has failed. That, he argued, means reformers have no choice but to fight.
"Hyper-partisanship may be entertaining, but it"s a terrible way to try to run a country. We"re the alternative and we"re the only ticket that offers Americans a chance to find common ground," Johnson wrote.
Johnson also appears to be building a significant base of support among millennial voters -- a demographic that Clinton needs to dominate to make it to the White House -- but which could fuel Libertarian Party growth in future.
A Bloomberg News/Selzer & Co. poll released Monday found Clinton"s 10-point advantage among younger voters cut to a statistically insignificant four points when Johnson and Stein are included in the race.
While some Democrats who abhor Clinton might be tempted by a fling with Johnson, he is also providing a refuge with Republicans who cannot stomach Trump. Antipathy for the billionaire prompted the Detroit News Thursday to do something it has never done in its 143 year history -- endorse someone other than the Republican presidential candidate.
Concern for Democrats
Still, Johnson"s resilience is causing genuine concern for top Democrats.
"There"s one message I want to deliver to everybody: If you don"t vote, that"s a vote for Trump. If you vote for a third-party candidate who"s got no chance to win, that"s a vote for Trump," President Barack Obama said on the Steve Harvey radio show this week.
Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is warning wavering Democrats attracted to Johnson that they risk bringing about an electoral catastrophe similar to the one in Florida in 2000 when Ralph Nader siphoned votes away from Vice President Al Gore. That allowed Bush to claim Florida after the vote count showdown in the US Supreme Court.
"If Gore had been president, we probably wouldn"t had a war in Iraq," Kaine told Yahoo News" Katie Couric last week. "Casting a vote, a protest vote, for a third-party candidate that"s going to lose may well affect the outcome. It may well lead to a consequence that is deeply, deeply troubling. That"s not a speculation, we"ve seen it in our country"s history."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/29/politics/gary-johnson-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html
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