Since Labor Day, the presidential campaign has shifted into high gear, and soon the debates will begin. But, right now, only two candidates will be in those debates. And most media will only be paying attention to those same two, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Yet, in Maine, two other candidates will be on the ballot — Green Independent Jill Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson. And Johnson and Stein are on the ballot in enough states so that, if one of them won in most of those states, they would be elected president.
The two major party candidates both have huge negatives, Trump is seen unfavorably by 70 percent of potential voters, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, with Clinton not far behind at 55 percent. A large percentage of the voting public wants an alternative to what seems to be the lesser of evils. They want someone to vote for, not just against. And they deserve one.
Every day, we see or hear, “Trump said this” or “Clinton did that,” but what about what Johnson did or Stein said? We rarely hear about their positions. Maybe voters want a supporter of legalized marijuana or a chief executive who would sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership, such as Johnson. Or, maybe they want a president who would rein in corporations or advocate for a Medicare-for-all health care system, such as Stein.
It’s the job of media to provide the facts and opinions about candidates the public needs to make informed choices. If the media only talk about half the candidates on the ballot, voters won’t know which candidates actually reflect their views on the issues they care about.
It’s the media’s responsibility to cover all candidates who could potentially win the election, not just the Democrat and Republican, because not every voter is locked into one of the two major parties. In May, a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 47 percent of registered voters said they would consider voting for a third-party candidate. That’s up from a 2012 poll when 40 percent said they would consider a third party candidate, and 38 percent in 2008.
By creating a threshold of 15 percent popularity in selected polls for a candidate to participate in televised debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates is abrogating its responsibility to be fair and equal in providing access to potentially successful nominees. The explanation is that those candidates do not have a sufficient degree of support to warrant inclusion in the debates.
But how can a candidate gain that 15 percent support when the media pay little attention to them and most voters barely know they exist? They can’t without significant exposure from the media and participation in the presidential debates. Not fair. It’s just as much a choice for media to cover two candidates as three or four. It’s a disservice to all voters who have four choices to only give attention to two, especially when so many voters are dissatisfied with the Democratic and Republican candidates and are searching for someone they like.
I hope the Bangor Daily News, and all media in this country, will give equal time, or nearly equal, to any candidate who is on the ballot in enough states to be elected president. Those are Stein, Clinton, Trump and Johnson.
I appreciate what WERU-FM, a community radio station, is doing. It has offered several discussion and debate programs featuring supporters of all four candidates. At least I know where all of them stand on certain issues, and it helps me to decide for whom I would vote.
This is the model that I think all media should follow. Give each candidate approximately equal time, so people can compare and contrast what each one stands for and against. Then voters can truly make an informed choice on Nov. 8.
Larry Dansinger lives in Bangor and has been a community organizer for more than 30 years, working on issues such as reducing the economic division between rich and poor and finding nonviolent solutions to conflicts.