After a campaign stop in Wisconsin, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein gave an interview to a local news station, where she was asked about the common trope of the third-party “spoiler” candidate.
For decades, members of the two prominent political parties have argued that a third-party candidate does nothing but “spoil” the election for the candidate that they more closely align with on policy — including Democrats attacking Green Party candidates and Republicans attacking libertarian candidates.
This issue has become even more of a concern than usual for the upcoming November presidential election, as Democrats are extremely outraged over several third-party candidates that are predicted to draw votes away from President Joe Biden — including independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Stein and unaffiliated presidential candidate Cornel West.
“The single biggest threat that helps put Trump back in the White House is third-party candidates. It’s not Biden’s age. It’s not whether Trump gets convicted. It’s not any of that stuff,” said Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic strategist who co-founded a new super PAC that is…
— Angela McArdle (@angela4LNCChair) March 15, 2024
At a time when Democrats ardently believe that “democracy is at stake” — referring to their belief that former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is a “threat to democracy,” despite their lack of evidence — the existence of alternatives to Biden in the race has led to anger.
During her interview with Milwaukee-based WISN 12 News, Stein pointed out that the voters who choose a third party are not trying to “spoil” the election for Biden — they are simply choosing a candidate that reflects their values, as many left-leaning voters are frustrated with the president’s policies.
The Green Party candidate argued that her voter base is made up of people who are angered about the so-called “genocide” in Gaza — referring to the Americans who staunchly oppose Israel’s efforts to eliminate Hamas terrorists who slaughtered over 1,200 people on Oct. 7, which has led to a number of civilian casualties in Gaza that has not been confirmed due to the propaganda coming out of the Hamas-controlled government. These pro-Palestine voters have recently taken to calling the president “Genocide Joe” over his mild support for Israel, despite Biden’s efforts to appease them by getting tougher on Israel and pushing for aid to Gaza.
Stein also stated that she has support from those in the “African American community” who believe that the “system is not serving us, it’s time to look for something new.”
The reporter then expressed concern about Stein’s candidacy “taking votes away” from Biden, to which Stein pointed out that the Michigan primary showed 14% of voters had “abandoned Biden.” She also noted that the Green Party’s goal is to win over 5% of voters.
The reporter then asked: “If former President Donald Trump were to win Wisconsin in the fall, Democrats would blame campaigns like yours, if you were on the ballot, is that fair?”
“Of course not. If you look at the most ‘spoiled’ election that the Democrats ever had, it was 2010 in the midterms,” Stein explained. “What happened? Democrats lost 1,000 state rep seats, they lost 64 congressional seats, and they lost 13 Senate seats and 12 governorships. There was no third party to blame that on. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats.”
“The Democrats have abandoned their base — they have no one to blame but themselves for these so-called ‘spoiled’ elections,” she argued.
The reporter then directly asked her: “Are you a spoiler?”
“Absolutely not,” she declared.
