Some liberal voters will choose third-party candidate, could play major role in tight presidential race
CAMBRIDGE – Deborah Shariff, a lifelong Greater Boston resident and local professor, says she will vote for Jill Stein this year, marking the first time the lifelong Democrat will vote outside a major political party.
"Because I am a Black woman, [people] think I should give my vote to Kamala Harris," she told WBZ. "The Democratic Party is so used to, particularly the Black community, just automatically giving their vote to the Democratic Party. And what have we received in return? Nothing."
Shariff focuses on two issues in particular: reparations for African Americans, and the war in Gaza. In her opinion, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has a plan for both.
Jill Stein feels energy shift
Stein, the candidate for the Green Party, is running in her third presidential election. The Massachusetts resident has pulled single digit or fewer polling in 2012 and 2016. This year, Stein tells WBZ she feels an energy shift.
"I've never had the experience before of being greeted with hugs and tears of gratitude on the street walking through the airport. Clearly there is such a sense of despair and desperation," Stein said. "There's this idea from the political elites that they own your vote. They don't own your vote; they have to earn it."
The war in Gaza in particular has started to pull especially young voters from the Democratic Party. Shariff understands why, and says she wants a ceasefire immediately.
"It's on the Democratic Party to clean up their act," Shariff said. "If they are interested in bringing people back to the Democratic Party, they've got to do the right thing. They have to not talk about a ceasefire in Gaza. They have to do it. That's like President Kennedy in 1962 with the Cuban missile issue. He picked up the phone and squashed everything. So don't tell me that the president doesn't have that power. The American people are not stupid."
The most recent New York Times - Siena College poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump polling in a dead heat at 48% each, with Jill Stein polling at 2%.
Keller on third-party vote
"A very strong case can be made that Jill Stein threw the 2016 election to Donald Trump, and she could do it again," WBZ political analyst Jon Keller explained. "People can do whatever they want with their vote and many people prefer to cast a protest vote when they don't like the two major party candidates, but let's all be grownups here and talk grownup talk. There are only two candidates for the presidency this year who have a chance to win."
"If you choose Jill Stein, you should also know that chances are very good that you're also choosing Donald Trump," Keller added. "If you're comfortable with that, that's your right as an American, knock yourself out."
Shariff rebukes that characterization, one that she's heard from many colleagues. "I am not a Trump supporter," she said. "But I believe that how worse off can the country be?"