Post-Mortem: What could Johnson have done better?

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

(Putting this here so it doesn't get lost in the main board)

When Gary Johnson and Bill Weld emerged from the LNC in May as the nominees, there seemed to be a lot of possibility for them. They were already polling within about 5% of the debate inclusion threshold in the polls that included them, with plenty of time to grow. Trump was polling terribly in Utah, to the point where it looked like Johnson could conceivably take the state. Trump had a party that had factions that were still questioning whether they should force him out at the convention, and Clinton was still casting off the final particles of the Sanders campaign and trying to repair her relationship with the left at large.

Well, fast forward to September, and while Johnson appears to have some sort of a chance at winning the military vote, and seems to be doing quite good for a third partier among independents and the young, the overall signals of the race are against him. Take a look:

- The first poll to include Johnson's name, Monmouth University back in March, showed him at 11%. Now, in his best polling, his support is still at that level. In his worst polling, he dips as low as 5%. Overall, he averages around 8 or 9%. Bottom Line: He hasn't net gained any supporters, and he has likely had a slight net loss.

- Trump has regained his footing in Utah. I still think he'll get <60% of the vote there, which is not good for a republican in that state, but he no longer looks like he could actually lose the state.

- Trump faced no serious challenge at the convention, with the party even actively lobbying and entering into quite convenient interpretations of certain parts of the rules to squash any possible challenge and get him as many votes as possible on the first ballot.

- While Young voters are still skeptical, most of the "Sanders left" has wholeheartedly embraced Clinton.

- Johnson barely got halfway to the polling threshold for the first debate

- About half the electorate still says "who?" when asked about their opinion on Johnson

I know, it's fun to fantasize about Johnson winning Utah and New Mexico and the rest of the states dividing themselves up so no one reaches 270 and then Democrats and a faction of republicans in the HoR uniting to install him as president. I know it's fun to fantasize about Johnson getting up near Ross Perot's percentage of the vote. But while this year is crazy, it appears that in all likelihood, none of that is actually going to happen. We could probably debate for weeks about whether Johnson will get 3% or 6% or 10% of the NPV without getting anywhere, but we know he won't get much beyond 10%. His campaign is going nowhere and may even be collapsing slightly. Whether he gets 5% on election day, getting the LP federal funding in 2020 - who knows? We'll find out on election day. But that wasn't his goal. His goal was to actually win.

So what do you guys see as his biggest mistakes over June, July, August, even May or earlier if you have something for that time period? What could Johnson have done better? Also feel free to discuss if you think Petersen, McAfee, or (D.W.) Perry would be doing better or not.

[Lachi]

A post-mortem more than a month before the election has even happened, let alone the first debate?

[Figueira]

It doesn't matter how well Johnson does. The sun will explode eventually anyway.