Many Republicans, Democrats and independents are truly depressed about the names expected to be on the presidential ballot this November. And who can blame them?

Of all the people in the United States, the major political parties have settled on two deeply flawed and incredibly unpopular candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. As a result, 2016 could turn out to be a good year for third-party candidates.

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Earlier this year ABC News found that nearly 40 percent of likely GOP voters said they would be willing to consider a third-party candidate. One appealing third-party option has already emerged – Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. A former two-term governor of New Mexico, Johnson governed as a fiscally conservative, socially progressive Republican. He backed school choice and lowered taxes. He supports gay marriage and wants drugs to be legalized.

These views are in keeping with the Libertarian Party's philosophy – which holds that government should generally leave people alone – and are increasingly popular with voters. "One in five Americans consider themselves libertarian, with younger adults being the most likely to adopt the label," Reuters found last year.

Johnson chose a similarly experienced and popular former governor to be his vice presidential nominee, William Weld of Massachusetts. Like Johnson, Weld governed as a moderate Republican with a small-government streak.

We don't yet know whom Trump and Clinton will select as their running mates, but Americans have good reason to question their judgment. For all her years of government experience, Clinton is a corrupt and ineffectual leader. Her most important policy contribution to the Obama administration was the decision to intervene in Libya – a terrible mistake that further destabilized the Middle East and empowered the Islamic State group.

Trump is just as bad, if not significantly worse. A nationalist populist with authoritarian tendencies, Trump has all but vowed to shred the Constitution when it comes to free speech protections, property rights, immigrant rights and free trade. He's neither a conservative nor much of a Republican, despite winning the party's primary.

In the coming days and months, Trump will continue to call Clinton a "crooked" politician with no moral compass. Clinton will call Trump mentally unstable and dangerous. They will both be correct. And Americans will be wishing for, and possibly actually looking for, alternatives.

Given this reality, it's not surprising that Johnson is already drumming up much more interest than when he ran in 2012. While Johnson probably can't win the White House, if he earns 5 percent of the total vote – he got 1 percent in 2012 – the Libertarian Party could qualify for public campaign financing in the next election cycle. And the more people who express a desire to vote for Johnson, the closer he'll get to being included in the main television presidential debates this fall. Being on the main debate stage would dramatically boost Johnson's recognition and be a game-changer for the Libertarian Party, presenting it as a viable third-party alternative to Democrats and Republicans and distributing its messages to millions of Americans who know little or nothing about the party. Johnson needs to show support from at least 15 percent of Americans in key polls to get on the debate stage. He hit 12 percent in the latest national Fox News poll.

Despite the best intentions of the American founders to design a system immune to factionalism, the structure of American government favors the existence of just two dominant political parties. Since U.S. elections are winner-take-all, voters are incentivized to coalesce around the candidates they view as the least bad rather than cast votes for long-shot candidates who may better represent their views. Vote for the lesser of two evils, the theory goes.