Libertarian candidate for president Gary Johnson said his anonymity could turn out to be an unlikely asset in his bid for the White House. On Wednesday, Johnson stopped by CNN to talk about his chances in the November election and his stance on immigration.
As it turns out, if your name isn’t Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, it seems that the voting public may not know who you are (with the exception of Harambe). And in a busy election season with rhetoric getting tossed left and right, even the VP nominees are being slightly forgotten about. Republican candidate for vice president Mike Pence suffered from this phenomenon during a publicized haircut on Tuesday. But Johnson seems to be wearing his anonymity as a badge of pride. When discussing his visibility on CNN, Johnson said it could benefit him in the long run:
“Seventy-percent of Americans don’t know who I am, and I think that bodes well to winning the race at some point! I do. We still hold to the belief — me and Bill Weld, hold to the belief — that, uh, we might be the next president and vice president.”
The conversation then turned to the topic of immigration, which is a policy Johnson wholeheartedly endorses. He also said Trump’s promises of building a wall are a bit unreasonable:
“Look, we should embrace immigration. These are really hard-working people that are taking jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want … He [Trump] still says he wants to build a wall across the border. And, really, he’s not going to deport all 11 million. He’s going to keep some.”
Johnson has been making the media rounds as of late, as a way to jockey himself into that coveted third podium during the presidential debates. In a national Bloomberg Poll, Johnson is tracking at 9 percent of the vote and needs to hit 15 percent to be included in the debates, so he’s got some work ahead of him.
