Gary Johnson, who's running for president as a libertarian, says the majority of Americans agree with his platform but don't realize it.
"The message I'm trying to send is one of smaller government … one of individual freedom and liberty. That's what this country is all about," Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, said Friday to Ed Berliner on "The Hard Line."
"The majority of Americans in this country are libertarian. They just don't know it."
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Johnson's quest to win the White House is an extraordinarily long shot, but he does have some advantages.
"The libertarian party is going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. I hope to be the libertarian nominee and the presumptive nominee. That means I'm going to be the only candidate on the ballot in all 50 states," Johnson said.
"Could a Republican run as a third party? Well, yeah they could, but they couldn't get on the ballot in all 50 states. At this late stage, it would be difficult to be on enough state ballots to actually mathematically even win the presidency.
"Could Donald Trump run as a third party at the very end? Yeah, but maybe he'll be on the ballot in 10 states mathematically not standing a chance to get elected."
But Johnson said the only way for him to get his message out is to be able to participate in the ongoing GOP and Democratic debates, which under current regulations he's not eligible to do.
"That's the only way that a third party has a chance. I polled nationally last week at 11 percent. The presidential debate commission has said that you need to be at 15 percent to be in the presidential debates. That is a very real possibility," Johnson said.
"We're … suing the presidential debate commission. Really, they're at the heart of this rigged game that's going on."
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