Evan McMullin Event Draws Over 1,000
Third-party candidate Evan McMullin stopped in Rexburg Saturday, drawing a crowd of more than 1,000 people. The crowd packed the Rexburg Tabernacle with just a 48-hour notice the Brigham Young University graduate was coming to town.
“I have been falling out of the republican party. Mainly because of all of those denials of hard facts like climate changes, all the things that are put out there that are absolutely false,” Nicholas Elsbury told KIFI/KIDK after listening to McMullin speak. “What I like about him is he is willing to look at information and he’s willing to look at the truth.”
Elsbury was one of the lucky ones who got a seat inside the Tabernacle. After reaching capacity, the Rexburg Fire Department made the campaign start turning people away.
McMullin credits a grassroots movement for his surge in popularity, having just launched his campaign in August. A recent Utah poll has McMullin getting 22% support from potential voters. Clinton and Trump are tied at 26%.
“He is a candidate that gave me a choice to vote otherwise I wouldn’t have known what I was going to do,” supporter Peyton Dunnaway said. “I am going to vote for him.”
McMullin started his meet-and-greet by explaining to the crowd the reason for his disdain for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump before talking policy.
“I would ask my national security leaders and my military leaders to give me a plan to defeat ISIS. I have my own ideas and I would feed those into the process. That is one thing,” McMullin told reporters when asked what he planned on doing on his first day as President if elected. “The next thing I would address issues of government reform. We have got to reform. We have got to send more power back to the people. There is too much power in Washington. It needs to be more at the state level. We need to be able to hold our government officials more accountable.”
McMullin, a former CIA agent, graduated from BYU and said his popularity could be credited to his faith, something he also said will guide him as President.
“My faith to the degree that I live it, it makes me a better person. It makes me a more compassionate person and it makes me a more patient person,” McMullin said. “I think it makes me a stronger person so that is the role that it has always played and always will play. It is to my benefit and to the benefit of those that I serve to do that.”
The turnout Saturday in Rexburg came with just 48 hours notice to supporters that McMullin would be in town. The day before, he campaigned in Idaho Falls and drew a crowd of 500. Those who have thrown their supporter behind McMullin said he is the change America needs.
“He is a candidate I can vote for that embodies the moral that I have,” Donna Howard said. “I can not in good conscious vote for either of the other two main candidates and I think Evan McMullin would lead us in the direction.”
FiveThirtyEight.com, a site that tracks the electoral college during each and every election now believes, the BYU grad has a chance at the White House. A snowballs’ chance, but a chance all the same.
Benjamin Morris of 538 says “based on our models at 538 there’s about 1-2 % chance of McMullin winning Utah” with the possibility of wrecking Trump’s and Clinton’s chances of making to the 270 electoral votes needed.
In order for that to happen, three things have to take place. McMullin must win Utah and deadlock the electoral college. He would then have to get a win in the House of Representatives.
If McMullin successfully blocks Clinton or Trump from getting the 270 electoral votes need, the House would pick the 45th President. Each state delegate would get one vote. Those voters are limited to the top three candidates. Last week, statistician, Nate Silver, from FiveThirtyEight.com said McMullin will place in the top three.
“If they can’t trust a candidate or if they are only voting for somebody to keep somebody else out, that is the wrong reason to vote,” Howard said when asked why undecided voters should support McMullin. “Vote for somebody you actually want in there.”
