Barr, Nader Will Have a Huge Impact on Election

September 10, 6:29 PMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

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Courtesy of CNN.com

While all of the Sarah Palin hype and the 24-hour-scandals will eventually be forgotten, the biggest factor in this election is one that has for the most part gone unmentioned.

Independent candidates Bob Barr (Libertarian Party) and Ralph Nader appear to be commanding a big chunk of the vote in a recent CNN poll.

The poll showed Senator Barack Obama deadlocked with Senator John McCain at 45% while Nader and Barr each picked up 3% of the vote. Think six-percent of the vote isn't a lot? In the 2000 election Ralph Nader picked up just three percent of the vote and look at how much flack he's gotten for the last eight-years.

Nader and Barr's impact on the election is even greater in individual states. 

Zogby polls have shown Barr receiving as much as 11% of the vote in New Hampshire, 10% of the vote in Nevada and 8% in Ohio; all of them battleground states.

While the percent of the vote is smaller in other states, polls have shown Barr receiving 3% in North Carolina where the election is incredibly close and 3% in Florida, where John McCain leads by just three points.

Nader on the other hand is having a big impact in the mid-western swing states. A TIME/CNN poll showed Nader picking up 4% of the vote in Nevada where Obama and McCain are tied at 41%. The same poll showed Nader picking up 8% in New Mexico, and 7% in battleground states Pennsylvania and Colorado.

While it is arbitrary if many Barr and Nader supporters will actually cast their vote for them in November knowing that their candidate will not win, in several states, a few simple percentage points could swing the entire election.