Story highlights Matt Zwolinski: Libertarian Party ticket's liberal social views could appeal to Democrats who supported Sanders

Libertarians have historically supported equality and even a social safety net

Matt Zwolinski is professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego, a co-director of USD's Institute for Law and Philosophy, and the founder of the Bleeding Heart Libertarians blog. The views expressed are his own.

(CNN) CNN is hosting Gary Johnson and Bill Weld in a Libertarian town hall on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

With national polling numbers hovering around 12%, the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and William Weld has the potential to be a real spoiler in the presidential election. But whose candidacy are they most likely to spoil?

Most people think of libertarianism as a kind of right-wing ideology, with its intellectual origins in the free-market economics of Milton Friedman and the unabashed egoism and anti-communism of Ayn Rand. And it's certainly true that for most of its existence, the Libertarian Party has drawn more heavily from the political right than from the political left.

Matt Zwolinski

But Gary Johnson is actually drawing just as much support from self-identified Democrats as he does from Republicans. And polls that include Johnson actually show a slight decrease in Clinton's lead over Trump.

On the surface, this might seem surprising. Johnson does, after all, advocate eliminating payroll taxes and capital gains taxes, and dramatically reducing government regulation of the economy -- all positions that sit much better with right-leaning conservatives than with political progressives.

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