Did Barr hurt McCain's electoral vote?

[Matt Damon™]

I'm curious... did Barr cost McCain any states or not? And if so which ones?

[Franzl]

*maybe* North Carolina....maybe.

Other than that, no.

[Mint]

No. But I'm sure 6 of the 12 people who voted for him would have gone for McCain.

[Matt Damon™]

No. But I'm sure 6 of the 12 people who voted for him would have gone for McCain.

And how would the other 6 go? Obama? Writing in Paul?

[Mint]

No. But I'm sure 6 of the 12 people who voted for him would have gone for McCain.

And how would the other 6 go? Obama? Writing in Paul?

2 for Obama, 3 for Paul, 1 for Ronald Reagan's corpse.

[Stranger in a strange land]

no. I doubt more than 1/3 of Barr's supporters would have otherwise voted for McCain. The others would have stayed home, written in Ron Paul, cast a null vote for President, or voted for another 3rd party. Note that Barr did best in states where Nader wasn't on the ballot, indicating that a sizable fraction of both their votes was for NOTA.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Not really.  Although my roommate voted for Barr over McCain.  Funny, he researched all the candidates except Barr - that lead to a big argument.

[JSojourner]

No.

[ChrisFromNJ]

Who is this Barr fellow you speak of?

[elcorazon]

no.  all the non-major party candidates this year receives the majority of their votes from folks who were either specifically voting for that person and that person only or were voting for none of the above.  A good friend of mine who is slightly right of center voted Nader in '04 as a protest vote.  I still don't know who he would have voted for if it HAD to be Bush or Kerry.

[Mr. Morden]

no. I doubt more than 1/3 of Barr's supporters would have otherwise voted for McCain. The others would have stayed home, written in Ron Paul, cast a null vote for President, or voted for another 3rd party. Note that Barr did best in states where Nader wasn't on the ballot, indicating that a sizable fraction of both their votes was for NOTA.

A small fraction might have otherwise voted for Obama over McCain.  I don't get the CW that says that Libertarian voters would overwhelmingly go with the GOP over the Dems as their second choice.....even if the Libertarian candidate in question is Bob Barr.

[Stranger in a strange land]

no. I doubt more than 1/3 of Barr's supporters would have otherwise voted for McCain. The others would have stayed home, written in Ron Paul, cast a null vote for President, or voted for another 3rd party. Note that Barr did best in states where Nader wasn't on the ballot, indicating that a sizable fraction of both their votes was for NOTA.

A small fraction might have otherwise voted for Obama over McCain.  I don't get the CW that says that Libertarian voters would overwhelmingly go with the GOP over the Dems as their second choice.....even if the Libertarian candidate in question is Bob Barr.

It's concievable there were a few PUMAs in states where Nader wasn't on the ballot who really didn't like Obama but also didn't want to vote for McCain. And yes true, there are many socially liberal and anti-war libertarians.

[Brandon H]

Ballot Access had an article about this, but I can't remember what it said.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

No (Sane)

Though potentially he might have helped Obama win North Carolina, but you do have to remember Obama worked very damn hard to win the state. Anyway, I think if most Libertarians that voted for Bob Barr were given the choice between Senator's McCain and Obama a vast majority of them would probably write in Ron Paul, if not that stay at home.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Not really.  Although my roommate voted for Barr over McCain.  Funny, he researched all the candidates except Barr - that lead to a big argument.

     My mother also voted for Barr over McCain, though that was after I asked her to vote for Barr.

[defe07]

Nah, only a small dent in North Carolina and Indiana but nothing else really. Hmm, I wonder how things would be with Condorcet or Approval Voting. Maybe to show people that votes don't belong to anybody from the get go, you need to reach out to the voters and try to appeal to them. Otherwise, why have elections.

[specific_name]

For the two possible suspects (IN & NC), if you add Barr's PV to McCain's you get near ties. I would say it is highly unlikely that Barr had any effect.

[NOVA Green]

Ballot Access had an article about this, but I can't remember what it said.

Research young Jedi     Just kidding, but I would be interested if you could find the post.

I'll agree with some of the other posters that there is little evidence of Barr hurting McCain's EV. The only disputed state is NC and I will venture to say that in a Southern state like NC that enough Barr voters would have stayed home or voted for Nader or even Paul. As some on this board have observed rates of minor party support are lower than in any other region, and are therefore more purist in their ideology than in some northern states.