The question, professors say, is whether people are listening. If the Green Party could replicate the support it drew in the early 2000s and incorporate the highly energized but politically ambiguous Occupy movement, professors say it could make a difference.
“It’s no secret that a lot of people think the system isn’t working,” Keyssar said.
Still, a Gallup poll released Sept. 13 reporter only one percent of Americans planned to vote for a third-party candidate.
“There’s been a sea change [since 2000]. You have a much clearer and starker set of options and that’s one reason the Green Party isn’t going to get much traction this time around,” said McCarthy, who said he has voted for the Green Party in the past.
“There’s nobody, even Jill Stein, who thinks Jill Stein is going to be president of the United States. Given that reality, everyone who votes for Jill Stein has to realize that is a futile electoral act. It may be a noble one, but it’s futile.”
—Staff writer Nicholas p. Fandos can be reached at nicholasfandos@college.harvard.edu.