Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Pitches Green Party 'New Deal' To Chicagoans
(CBS) – Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was in the Chicago region Thursday, and like Hillary Clinton she hails from Illinois.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley caught up with Stein, a Highland Park native, as she courted voters on Chicago's West Side.
"We've got a crisis here, a crisis on the streets here on the West Side, with some 56 deaths from street violence in the last year alone," Stein said.
She took a walking tour of the South Austin neighborhood, calling for a Green "New Deal" to create 20 million jobs by slashing defense spending.
"We did this before, in the New Deal. That helped us get out of the Great Depression," Stein said.
Polls show the major party nominees have the highest unfavorable ratings ever: 58 percent for Republican Donald Trump and 54 percent for Democrat Clinton.
If she's not welcome in the debates, she's certainly welcome in Austin.
"She's coming out here, showing she will try to make it better for us. She has proven herself to come out here," resident Rebecca Willett said.
Stein is a Harvard-educated physician who also wants government to pay off all student loan debt and make Medicare available to everyone.
Analysts don't believe votes for her, or Libertarian Gary Johnson, could tip the election for Trump or Clinton. That could change, if Trump makes the race significantly tighter.