Although former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is gaining in the polls and is expected to be on the ballot in all 50 states as third-party presidential candidate, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus insisted on Sunday that the libertarian was a “non-factor.”
During an interview with Priebus on CNN, host Candy Crowley noted that 4 percent of Colorado voters recently said they planned to vote for a third-party candidate.
“The conventional wisdom is that he’s going to draw from Mitt Romney,” Crowley explained. “And it makes a difference in Colorado, it makes a difference in Virginia, it will make a difference in North Carolina.”
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“It doesn’t worry me,” Priebus replied. “I think people understand that they’re not going to throw their vote away when we have an election here that’s about the future of America.”
“We don’t have a third-party candidate that’s anywhere near the popularity of Ross Perot or John Anderson,” he added. “I just don’t see that happening. In fact, I see that it’s almost a non-factor. And so, I’m not worried about it.”
A recent Gravis Marketing/Capitol Correspondent poll found Johnson had support from over 10 percent of voters in Ohio, reducing Romney’s support by over 6 percent.
Watch this video from CNN’s State of the Union, broadcast Oct. 7, 2012.
