Gary Johnson’s governorship of New Mexico in the 1990s coincided with Mike Layne’s college years in Santa Fe.

Today, Layne’s front yard in Redlands features a Johnson lawn sign. Layne, a 47-year-old consultant who helps nonprofit groups, cities and schools pursue grant funding, is drawn to Johnson’s mix of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism.

“I think that’s what we’re missing from the candidates. They’re either left of center or right of center,” said Layne, a former Redlands City Council candidate who is not registered with a political party. “You used to be able to be socially liberal in the Republican Party and they ran those people out several years ago.”

With this year’s presidential race featuring a matchup between two unpopular major party candidates, supporters of Johnson and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein see a golden opportunity to loosen the Republican and Democratic parties’ stranglehold on political power.

“This is an opportunity that just does not happen,” said Jim Gray, a retired Orange County judge who was the 2012 Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee. “It’s a perfect storm for us with regard to the candidates for the Democrats and the Republicans but it’s very scary for the country.”

As of Wednesday, Sept. 7, an average of recent polls showed Johnson and Stein with 8.4 percent and 3.2 percent of the vote, respectively, according to the polling website RealClearPolitics, which gave Democrat Hillary Clinton a 2.1 percentage point edge over Republican Donald Trump.

A Field Poll from July shows Johnson at 10 percent, with Clinton leading Trump by 24 percentage points. Clinton is widely expected to win California’s 55 electoral votes in the November general election.

This year’s race for the White House is unusual given voters’ general dislike of Clinton and Trump. RealClearPolitics as of Wednesday reported a minus-13.9 percent favorability rating for Clinton, who has been dogged by questions about her email practices, honesty and the Clinton Foundation charity, and a minus-21.5 favorability rating for Trump, who has been condemned by critics as an offensive narcissist who caters to white supremacists.

Johnson, who was a Republican while governor, supports positions appealing to conservatives, including a balanced federal budget, cutting regulations and replacing income and payroll taxes with a sales tax.

But he departs from GOP orthodoxy in his support of marijuana legalization, abortion rights and immigration reform that emphasizes assimilating immigrants over building a border wall. On his campaign website, Johnson argues against interventionist foreign policy, saying it only creates more problems and perpetuates war.

Stein, who ran for Massachusetts governor and other offices in that state, wants to create jobs through a “Green New Deal” that would have America running entirely on clean renewable energy by 2030. She supports guaranteed access to housing, health care, food and water, a federal $15 an hour minimum wage, abolishing student loan debt and cutting military spending by at least 50 percent while closing overseas military bases.

Statewide, Libertarians and Greens made up fewer than 2 percent of all registered voters in California as of June. Forty-five percent of state voters are Democrats, 27 percent are Republicans and 23 percent are not affiliated with any political party.

‘REAL CHANCE’

Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, agrees that this election cycle offers hope for Greens and Libertarians long confined to the political sidelines. “Johnson probably has greater potential,” he said.

“Neither Stein nor Johnson is going to win in 2016; the two-party system is too deeply entrenched,” Pitney said. “But the Trump candidacy has severely damaged the GOP’s reputation, and many limited-government types will be looking for a new political home.”

“And if Clinton wins and disappoints progressives – a very real possibility – the Greens will have a real chance at growth.”

But Pitney also sees obstacles for Stein and Johnson.

“Stein can appeal to Bernie Sanders Democrats who think that Hillary Clinton is too close to business interests,” he said. “One big problem, however, is the memory of Ralph Nader. In 2000, Nader took enough votes from (Al) Gore to tip the state of Florida – along with the presidency – to George W. Bush. That memory is a huge burden for any Green candidate.”

Stein, a physician, has waffled on the issue of vaccination, Pitney said. While Stein told The Washington Post that vaccines have been “absolutely critical” in preventing diseases such as smallpox, Stein also has been quoted as saying there are “real questions” about vaccine safety.

“To be credible, Stein has to shift the focus away from such issues and emphasize bread-and-butter concerns such as economic inequality,’ Pitney said.

With Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, “the Libertarians are in the unusual position of offering a presidential and vice presidential candidate who both have real governing experience,” Pitney said.

“But to break through to the public and make a bigger dent in the Trump vote, (Johnson) needs some high-profile endorsements. If Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney got behind him, he might be able to pick up the few additional points he needs to meet the debate threshold.”

Johnson hopes to break the 15-percent polling threshold needed to participate in the upcoming presidential debates. The first one is set for Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

Getting into the debates is crucial for Johnson, said Gray, who was Johnson’s running mate four years ago.

If that happens, “we will capture the voters’ imagination and become the odds-on favorite to win,” Gray said. “We’re asking people (if a pollster calls) to say you support Gary Johnson. Get us in the debate and it will be a game-changer.”

Johnson also will have to convince voters he’s qualified, and a recent TV interview didn’t help. Asked what he would do to solve the refugee crisis in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Johnson replied: “What is Aleppo?”

The gaffe didn’t faze Layne. “I would venture that 90 percent or more of registered voters could not answer the same question that Johnson was asked, and yet he is somehow now not qualified?,” he said.

The Stein campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

‘MOOD IS RIGHT’

Johnson and Stein have reached out to disaffected voters in both major parties. Johnson has wooed Republicans who don’t like Trump, while Stein and running mate Ajamu Baraka, a human rights activist, are trying to recruit Sanders supporters angry with Clinton and the Democratic establishment.

Andy Favor, a 52-year-old certified public accountant from Laguna Niguel, registered as a Republican to vote for then-GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul. This time around, he has a Johnson bumper sticker on his car and has donated to Johnson’s campaign.

“I hope that Republicans would realize that Trump can’t win, and take a look at Johnson,” Favor said. “I think Republicans are going down with the ship.”

Christopher Cruz, a 25-year-old from Montebello who works in tech support for the Los Angeles Unified School District, thinks Stein cares more about issues facing people of color than Clinton.

“I really want communities to be aware there’s another option,” Cruz said. “We grew up with hereditary politics. We saw our parents voting Democratic or Republican and we think there are only two options.”

To those who think he is wasting his vote, Cruz said: “The Democratic Party is not entitled to my vote. They’re not entitled to anybody’s vote. Look at the Democratic Party and look what they’ve done for you.”

“From my perspective, I could vote for Hillary and I might prevent some deportations from happening,” Cruz added. “But that won’t stop it. It will continue to happen, just based on Obama’s record. For me, I’m not comfortable with that.”

Given Clinton and Trump’s unpopularity, “I think it really will push third party candidates to another level,” Cruz said.

“I really think the mood is right, the time is right, especially at the local level. The local level is where you can make a lot of change.”

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com