Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have long ago convinced most of us that they are both awful. Neither can be respected or trusted. Neither one has any discernable fundamental principles upon which their positions are consistently based. Their mud-slinging, bickering, in-the-gutter campaigning can’t sink lower, but then it does. It’s a national embarrassment befitting a third world country.

A recent poll by the Pew Organization found that only 11 percent of voters say they would be excited if Trump were elected while only 12 percent say they’d be excited if Clinton wins. Looking at it from the opposite direction, Pew found that 57 percent are frustrated with the campaigns and 55 percent are disgusted.

Thus, it appears that Trump and Clinton have only a small “hard core” of voters (say 15 percent for each) who actually support them. Yet, when asked, “If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?” the Real Clear Politics average of polls indicates that 49 percentwould vote for Clinton and 42 percent for Trump. Why?

The vote for the “lesser of two evils” syndrome is alive and well. If we subtract the 15 percent of actual supporters from the 49 percent who say they would vote for Clinton, we have 34 percent whose vote for Clinton really is a vote against Trump; they view Clinton as the lesser of two evils. Similarly, 27 percent of those who would vote for Trump do so as a vote against Clinton because they think Trump is the lesser of two evils.

So, we have the incredible (and incredibly sad) situation where about 30 percent of voters would be voting for the candidate they like and about 61 percent (34 percent, plus 27 percent) would be voting for a candidate they don’t like because they like the other candidate even less.

The numbers are approximations, but we all know they are approximately correct. So many people are saying things like, “We just can’t let Trump get his finger on the nuclear button” or “The Constitution is toast if Hillary appoints Supreme Court justices.”

This is not a new phenomenon, it’s just on steroids this time; we have about twice as many voting for somebody they don’t like than are voting for a candidate they like. The two old, declining parties have been giving us poor candidates for several elections. They’ve just hit a new low this time.

As gruesome as this picture is, it would be entirely understandable if there were only two candidates. However, there is a third choice on the ballot in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. It is Gov. Gary Johnson.

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Johnson and running mate Bill Weld are both Libertarians who ran as Republicans in Democratic states (New Mexico and Massachusetts) and were overwhelmingly re-elected to second terms. Johnson is refreshingly open and honest (what a contrast), even when it may not be to his benefit. He states the principles upon which he would govern (yes, he has principles).

But only about 10 percent say they will vote for Johnson. Why? There may be several lesser reasons, but the big one is, “Because he can’t win, so that would be wasting my vote.”

Obviously, Johnson could win a majority if, in addition to his 10 percent most of the 61 percent of voters who dislike both Trump and Clinton would simply vote for him. He could easily win a plurality if only half of the 61 percent vote for him. That’s not going to happen as long as people think it’s not going to happen. Catch-22.

One has to wonder how rotten the lesser of two evils would have to be to break us out of this vicious circle. If the Democratic and Republican nominees somehow were Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini, would people still vote for the lesser of those two evils instead of Gary Johnson? (Skip the hysterical letters; I have just set up a hypothetical example, not equated either Clinton or Trump to either of these dictators.)

You may or may not think our situation is as bad as this hypothetical one, but we should all be able to agree that it would be far healthier for a majority of us to be united in favor of a good alternative, than be so strongly polarized against two bad alternatives.

In Gov. Johnson’s words: “The political system is broken. Let’s put parties and differences aside while we solve our problems. Together, we’ll stop the spending and end the wars. Together, we’ll restore our industrial might. Together, we’ll rebuild our own roads, bridges, schools and hospitals instead of building them for countries half a world away. And if, in four years, we as a people decide we didn’t like peace, prosperity and freedom, we can always vote the authoritarians back into office again.”

Johnson offers a good alternative. All we have to do is vote for him.

Roy Minet, a Mount Joy resident, is the Libertarian Party’s nominee for Pennsylvania auditor general.