"Third Force" and Its "Troubles" for Clinton's Election Campaign

For months, the world has been watching the presidential election race in the United States. This election, which will take place in November this year, has unique characteristics that, according to political experts, distinguish it from other elections. On one hand, for the first time, a woman has been introduced as a candidate in the U.S. elections; Hillary Clinton, who has been very active in American politics for over three decades as First Lady, Senator from New York, and Secretary of State under Obama. On the other hand, Republican supporters chose Donald Trump, a New York millionaire with no political background, to represent them in the party primaries, surprising and sometimes confusing the leaders of this party. However, according to polling results from the news-analysis website Politico, it seems that neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump has much popularity among the general electorate outside their main supporter groups. The unpopularity of these two main candidates, along with the disillusionment of many Bernie Sanders supporters, Clinton's rival in the Democratic primary, has led a significant number of people to turn to two lesser-known parties in the U.S.: the Green Party and the Libertarians. According to Politico, polls indicate that particularly young people are seriously and for the first time showing special attention to these two parties. This attention could cause trouble for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in November. For example, in polls after the Democratic convention (which took place a few weeks ago in Philadelphia), Clinton's popularity significantly increased compared to Trump among voters. However, if one of these parties had been included in the polls, Clinton's vote count would only slightly exceed Trump's. It seems that young people who believe they will not vote for Clinton are now more attracted to the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson (former governor of New Mexico) and his running mate Bill Weld (former governor of Massachusetts). Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, has also gained a good following. Stein recently announced that if Bernie Sanders joins the Green Party, she would resign her candidacy and give her place to Sanders. Patrick Murray, a polling expert, says Trump supporters will vote for Trump, but Hillary Clinton's supporters are not very satisfied with her, and many are reluctantly voting for her. The issue is that currently, Clinton's vote count is still high, and these third parties do not have much impact on the polling results, but in the November election, votes in some states are very important and critical. Among these states, some like Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and New Hampshire have a long history of voting for third parties. This is a point that could seriously trouble Clinton's campaign.