# Cruz as a third party candidate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 5, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802 "2016-08-05T02:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/1 "2016-08-05T02:28:10Z")
Probably a stupid question but why is there no movement to have Ted Cruz run on the American Independent and the American Constitution parties ticket\*? The evangelicals would love it. Hell, He might even pull off what George Wallace tried to do and snipe enough EVs to put the election in the House. \*It is too late to run as an independent but I believe those two parties have automatic access to the ballots in the states they are active in. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/2 "2016-08-05T03:09:57Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Hell, He might even pull off what George Wallace tried to do and snipe enough EVs to put the election in the House. I don’t see how Cruz being on the ballot would do anything but get Clinton more electoral votes by splitting the R vote and allowing Clinton to win states she otherwise wouldn’t. How do you envision the Cruz EV sniping would work? Which blue states do you think Cruz could win? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/3 "2016-08-05T03:34:57Z")
Nothing is going to happen no matter how many of these threads you start. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/4 "2016-08-05T03:51:14Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > … why is there no movement to have Ted Cruz run… Not enough people like that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/5 "2016-08-05T03:54:50Z")
Cruz wants to run in 2020. He’s banking on Trump to crash and burn and then presenting himself next cycle as the Real American Conservative. If he’s seen as _causing_ Republicans to lose by splitting the vote, he can’t really work that angle. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/6 "2016-08-05T05:29:50Z")
Just to clarify, I’m not asking why Cruz isn’t considering it. More of why the evangelicals aren’t creating the movement. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/7 "2016-08-05T05:35:23Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Just to clarify, I’m not asking why Cruz isn’t considering it. More of why the evangelicals aren’t creating the movement. Because they are more than happy with Trump so long as he promises to put the type of people on SCOTUS to outlaw abortion and overturn gay marriage rights. It really is that simple. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/8 "2016-08-05T08:30:56Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Cruz wants to run in 2020. He’s banking on Trump to crash and burn and then presenting himself next cycle as the Real American Conservative. If he’s seen as _causing_ Republicans to lose by splitting the vote, he can’t really work that angle. Not to single you out, but I deeply wish people would stop conflating “conservative” with “reactionary,” as though they mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/9 "2016-08-05T11:46:48Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Just to clarify, I’m not asking why Cruz isn’t considering it. More of why the evangelicals aren’t creating the movement. Because they’ve resigned themselves to Trump. He’s not religious and he’s not a conservative and he’s a horrible human being, but… if the only alternative is Hillary, they figure they have no choice but to vote Trump and hope he makes at least some minimal effort to put conservative judges on the Supreme Court. Which he probably won’t. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/10 "2016-08-05T12:51:34Z")
The simple reason here is that it splits the Republican Party and threatens to destroy it in future elections. If Trump gets slaughtered, he gets slaughtered. Dukakis got slaughtered in 1988 and it didn’t blow up the Democratic Party, they just recharged for 1992. If Cruz runs of course it doesn’t work; his appeal in very different from Trump’s. IF Cruz actually ran an actualcampaign he would get just enough votes to hand Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Georgia to Hillary Clinton. At that point I do not see how she does win the election - and get re-elected in 2020, when the U.S. right is still shattered in two. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/11 "2016-08-05T12:54:07Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Just to clarify, I’m not asking why Cruz isn’t considering it. More of why the evangelicals aren’t creating the movement. Because they’ve revealed that a great deal of the evangelical movement is about winning elections instead of representing Christian values. When prominent [evangelical leaders are proclaiming](http://www.christianpost.com/news/james-dobson-endorses-donald-trump-for-president-166827/)Trump’s Christian _bona fides_ instead of denouncing him as the bastard he is it’s indicative that those leaders are far more concerned with secular victory that promoting the word of God. I have a pal who’s lead political writer for The Christian Post and he’s about ready to jump in a volcano he’s so disillusioned about the leaders of the evangelical movement. He’s in disbelief over the religious right’s adoption of Trump. James Dobson - of Focus on the Family - isn’t a stupid man. He’s smart and accomplished. But when he says, “On the issue of abortion, I choose not to evaluate him based on his past position but rather on what he says are his current convictions.” he’s displaying a level of hypocrisy not often seen even in Washington lobbyist circles. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/12 "2016-08-05T13:06:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not to single you out, but I deeply wish people would stop conflating “conservative” with “reactionary,” as though they mean the same thing. Talk to Cruz; he’s the one labeling himself as the true conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/13 "2016-08-05T14:05:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not to single you out, but I deeply wish people would stop conflating “conservative” with “reactionary,” as though they mean the same thing. In the context of discussing the current and near-future Republican Party, they pretty much _do_ mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/14 "2016-08-05T15:33:28Z")
Cruz voters are Trump voters now, there isn’t a separate group of voters that like Cruz but not Trump. That’s why people were calling his career over after the GOP convention, he got booed of stage by HIS voters. ---
**Author:** ![Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambrosio_Spinola)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/15 "2016-08-05T18:09:30Z")
Just as a practical matter, it’s too late for an independent candidate to run a national campaign now. [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Filing_deadlines_and_signature_requirements_for_independent_presidential_candidates,_2016) has a rundown of the various states’ requirements. It’s still possible for a hypothetical independent to get on the ballot in many states, but the deadlines have already passed for a number of very significant ones (like Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Indiana, and perhaps most importantly for a Cruz run, Texas). At this point all an independent candidate could do would be to act as a spoiler with no chance of actually winning the election outright. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/16 "2016-08-05T18:16:47Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Just to clarify, I’m not asking why Cruz isn’t considering it. More of why the evangelicals aren’t creating the movement. If evangelicals had the kind of juice that would let them throw the election to Ted Cruz, then they should have just made him the candidate from the start. Sending the election to the House and then prevailing on everyone to vote Cruz is the _hard_ way of getting this done. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/17 "2016-08-05T19:01:20Z")
Because Ted Cruz doesn’t want to break up the Republican party and be responsible for the blame while still being out of office. He wants to control one of the 2 major parties so that he can wreak havok from the White House. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/18 "2016-08-05T19:04:20Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Probably a stupid question but why is there no movement to have Ted Cruz run on the American Independent and the American Constitution parties ticket\*? The evangelicals would love it. Hell, He might even pull off what George Wallace tried to do and snipe enough EVs to put the election in the House. > > \*It is too late to run as an independent but I believe those two parties have automatic access to the ballots in the states they are active in. I think the Democratic party would love to have the 38 EV’s represented by the State. Whether or not the majority of State residents prefer to have their 38 EV’s go to the Dems, on the other hand… But, yeah, if Cruz did that, he could give the Dems Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruz-as-a-third-party-candidate/761802/19 "2016-08-06T00:09:59Z")
And then there’s [this](http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/ted-cruz-favorable-rating). Ted’s rocking a sweet -31 in favorable minus unfavorable. That’s worse than the [Donald’s](http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/donald-trump-favorable-rating) -27. Both of them make [Hillary’s](http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/hillary-clinton-favorable-rating) -12 look pretty good.