If a new poll is any indication, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader could be a factor in this year’s race.
Nader, who chose to start his campaign earlier this year by gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot in New Mexico, is at 6 percent in a new CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll. Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Barack Obama leads in the poll with 47 percent to Republican nominee John McCain’s 43 percent.
The poll, conducted June 4 and 5, surveyed 921 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
As a presidential candidate, Nader received 2.74 percent of the popular vote in 2000. After many Democrats blamed him for Al Gore’s loss that year, he received only 0.38 percent in 2004.
So why, in a year when both major-party nominees are popular among independents, would Nader have significant support?
It doesn’t appear to be coming at the expense of one candidate. Take Nader out of the poll and Obama leads McCain 49 percent to 46 percent. But it’s significant that Nader’s support was twice the margin of error in the poll. Assuming the poll is correct, it means that, at the very least, Nader has the potential to be as much a factor in 2008 as he was in 2000.