Office Hours: Beware the Cornel West factor

His third-party candidacy could give the presidency to Trump

I consider Cornel West — philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual — a friend. We have similar values. I’ve campaigned beside him for many years, supporting candidates both of us believe in.

West is now the Green Party’s candidate for president in 2024.

I cannot support him. In fact, I wish he’d drop out of the race.

There’s no way in hell West is going to become president. The only thing his candidacy could do is ensure the election of Donald Trump.

According to polling numbers published on Friday by Race to the WH — which tracks polling by analyzing a wide range of surveys from reputable pollsters — Biden now leads Trump Trump 44.1 percent to 42.2 percent.

But with West as a third-party candidate, Biden may lose just enough votes in key swing states to give Trump the presidency.

West threatens to pull votes away from Biden rather than Trump due to West’s affinity with Black voters and voters under age 40.

Echelon Insights polled 1,020 voters from June 26 to 29 about a hypothetical matchup among Trump, Biden, and West. West got 4 percent of the vote. Trump got 43 percent. Biden, 42 percent. In key battleground states, Trump got 48 percent of the vote. Biden got 40 percent. West got 3 percent. (11 percent of responders were unsure whom they would vote for.)

A Suffolk University/USA Today poll of 500 registered Ohio voters in July found that 43.6 percent preferred Trump (who won the state in 2016 and 2020), 38.2 percent preferred Biden, and 2 percent preferred West.

Yes, I know: Polls are flawed. But I have had some personal experience with third-party candidates and seen first-hand what they can do.

Bill Clinton became president in 1992 because Ross Perot ran as an independent third-party candidate against President George H.W. Bush and pulled enough votes away from Bush to hand the election to Clinton.

In 2000, Ralph Nader — whom I admire and respect — drew off enough votes from Al Gore to tip the election to George W. Bush (helped by some Republican skulduggery).

To this day, Ralph argues that he drew more new voters into that election than he drew voters away from Bush — voters who in subsequent years would push for a more progressive America.

I expect West will argue the same if Trump is elected in 2024.

There’s no way of telling for sure whether West will pull in more voters than he siphons away from Biden. But the stakes are so high that I’d rather not take a chance.

So, today’s Office Hours discussion question and poll: Should Cornel West run? (When I write him, I’ll convey to him the results of the following poll, along with a sampling of your thoughts.)