Can a third-party candidate sway the US presidential race?

2023-09-04 16:16:11, Kosova & Bota CNA

Currently, the odds are high that the next presidential election will be a contest between current President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump. However, there are policies that are considering entering the race. VOA reporter Veronica Balderas Iglesias brings the details.

Former President Donald Trump already has a suspect photo and identification number due to several criminal indictments against him. But Mr. Trump completely denies that he has committed any wrongdoing, and some of the published polls show that, so far, he is not being abandoned by his supporters.

In fact, many of the candidates in the primary race to secure the official nomination of the Republican Party say they will support Mr. Trump if he is chosen as the Republican nominee for president.

Can a third-party candidate sway the US presidential race?

One of them is Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy, who stated on the "This Week" show of the American television "ABC" that he supports Mr. Trump even if he does not agree with some of his actions during his time as president.

"I think that many of these cases against Mr. Trump are completely politicized prosecutions through the prosecution. This sets a terrible example for our state. I don't want us to become like the Banana Republic, where the administrative part of the state uses police force to eliminate rivals from the race," he says.

The promises of support that the Republican candidates made to Mr. Trump were strongly criticized by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, in an interview given to "ABC" television.

"If you are not ready to say that the behavior of Mr. Donald Trump - who has tried to prevent the peaceful transition of power - is disqualifying behavior, he deserves to be fired, if you promise that you will vote for him despite this, or that you will forgive him ?”, he says.

As the election season approaches in the United States, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press," shared some advice with Republicans who, like him, oppose Mr. Trump and worry about some political leads that Democrats are already gaining at the local level in some states, including his own.

Can a third-party candidate sway the US presidential race?

"Issues should not be personalized. I do what is in the interest of the residents I serve, regardless of the party they belong to. From a worldview, I'm fiscally conservative and I want to support Republican ideals, but that doesn't mean we have to bend and break the rules."

Although attention is currently focused on the potential presidential race between Mr. Trump and incumbent President Biden, a third candidate could change the race. Former Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan was asked about his political ambitions on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"I have not yet closed the door in that direction. If I think we can win; that we have a strong team; that those two candidates are weak; maybe we can try to do something that has never been done before," he says.

Analysts point out that there is more than a year until the next election and that Americans' votes may be influenced by other factors beyond Mr. Trump's legal problems and Mr. Biden's advanced age./ VOA