So I already graded the democratic candidates on my major 2024 metrics, now I want to grade third party candidates. In particular, I will look at RFK Jr., Cornel West, and Jill Stein.
Metric 1
This metric is more a general snapshot of the candidate overall and
provides a comprehensive picture that allows me to get a good idea of
what they're about.
Basic income support - 10
Medicare for all support - 10
Economic policies (other than UBI/M4A) - 10
Social policies - 10
Foreign policy - 10
Worldview/ideology- 20
Consistency/dedication to progressive values- 10
Experience/competence- 10
Doesn't act as a spoiler- 10
Total- 100
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Basic income support- 2/10
RFK actually is open to the idea, but hasn't supported it outright. He's kinda of UBI-curious, but he's not a hardcore supporter.
Medicare for all support- 3/10
RFK's stance on medicare for all is confusing. He said he opposes it, but he talks about a single payer, but with private options, but not a public option, it's just a massive contradiction of terms. He supports....something, but it's unclear what it is. I'm guessing it's a public option he doesn't call a public option but due to the ambiguity, Im going to give him a relatively low score here.
Economic policies- 6/10
He's low key progressive and has a rather populist platform. However, in practice I don't see it as much different than Biden's. If anything it might be a bit weaker on some priorities I'll look at with metric 2 like free college and climate change.
Social policies- 7/10
He has a lot of mainstream progressive positions, but he is a bit of an anti vaxxer and I kinda find that cringe. Still, he does have decent positions on guns and immigration relative to a lot on the left. Still, the anti vax stuff turns me off.
Foreign policy- 0/10
He's an anti war crank. 'Nough said.
Worldview/ideology- 8/20
If I gave Biden a 10/20, I gotta give this guy lower. He's more moderate than Biden in a lot of ways and while he has a progressive streak, I just don't like this guy that much. He has concerning views on foreign policy and some social issues like vaccines, and while he's progressive in some ways, he's kinda cringey.
Consistency/dedication to progressive values- 5/10
While I believe he's passionate about the views he has and means well by them, he just ain't really progressive enough for me.
Experience/competence- 4/10
Eh, he's not terrible, but he's kind of a crank. I don't take him super seriously.
Doesn't as a spoiler- 0/10
He's third party, which hurts him this election for me.
Total- 34/100
He's....okay. Like, he's not my cup of tea. I consider even Biden a huge step up from him. If he were in the democratic ticket still he'd be significantly lower than any other candidate. Still, he's not completely awful. I just think there's way better options out there, and I do grade harshly.
Jill Stein
Basic income support- 2/10
I'll give her the same 2 I gave RFK. She seemed open to the idea in 2016, but she always struck me as more of a green new dealer. She talks about guaranteeing the basics of life, but there's no mention of UBI, just a job guarantee and stuff like that.
Medicare for all support- 10/10
I imagine she supports a version of medicare for all, but I'm not sure the version.
Economic policies- 10/10
I mean, she's as far left as you can get just about. If anything maybe too far left at times, but generally speaking outside of UBI I have to give her high marks.
Social policies- 7/10
Kinda woke, anti gun, but otherwise pretty compatible with my liberalism.
Foreign policy- 0/10
Another anti war crank
Ideology/worldview- 12/20
I mean she's a bit too far left for me and comes off as kinda cringey, but her views aren't bad. We have some agreements, we have some differences. I would say she fits a more traditional leftist mold whereas I have diverged from that in some significant ways.
Consistency/dedication to progressive values- 3/10
EDIT: Given potential ties to Russia, I'm lowering Stein's rating here.
Experience/competence- 1/10
She has no experience, she has low levels of competence, she's an activist, not a politician, and while she was good for a protest vote in 2016, let's just say I never really saw her as the brightest lightbulb in the drawer.
Doesn't as a spoiler- 0/10
She was a spoiler in 2016 for better or for worse (still not sorry for voting for her btw), and in 2024, she's still one (won't be supporting her this time).
Total: 45/100
I mean, she's okay. Better than RFK, but worse than the democratic nominees. Even without the third party handicap, she would still be a bit lower than Biden for me. I ain't a particular fan of hers. Good for a protest vote in 2016 when I REALLY hated hillary, but given my triangulation between liberals and leftists, and my growing disdain for both, to the point that Biden is coming around to be....not bad again, she will not be getting a vote for me over the democratic nominee.
Cornel West
Basic income support- 3/10
He basically holds the Dean Phillips position of establishing a commission on basic income, without outright supporting the proposal. I gotta give him credit on this but I dont expect him to go anywhere with it.
Medicare for all- 10/10
He wants to go "beyond" medicare for all, whatever that means. however, this doesn't get you "beyond" a 10. If anything he's too extreme as he talks about nationalizing the industry. Which tells me he support a beveridge model of healthcare. Not my preference, but still a decent model for healthcare that has worked where it has been tried.
Economic policies- 10/10
He's progressive AF, I can't fault him on that, I dont always agree with him but given my main difference is over UBI I can't fault him for that.
Social policies- 7/10
Goes a bit hard on the social justice for my tastes. Not for reparations, his anti gun positions, etc.
Foreign policy- 0/10
Another anti war crank
Ideology/Worldview- 10/20
A full on leftist talking like he's trying to outdo the other leftists. He's a bit too extreme for me. If I gave Stein a 12, he gets a 10 simply because his "im more leftist than anyone else" thing actually backfires on me.
Consistency/dedication to progressive values- 9/10
I believe he will do what he says, although I don't believe he'll deliver on UBI. Again, most leftists wont, and given how radical and unrealistic his sometimes are I'm not really expecting him to.
Experience/competence- 1/10
While he's a bit more scholarly than Stein, he's equally as unrealistic but in a different way. Stein is a bit of a crank, this guy just has ideas too extreme to be implemented. He talks a big game about everything but his policies are expensive and won't work in practice.
Doesn't as a spoiler- 0/10
Again, literally a spoiler.
Total- 50/100
He scores similarly to Jill Stein, but slightly lower, mainly because his extreme leftist approach makes me take him slightly less seriously than even Stein. I thought he'd get higher, but metrics are metrics, and I guess Stein is slightly stronger, or they're about the same.
Overall
RFK Jr- 34
Jill Stein- 52
Cornel West- 50
(Compared to democrats)
Joe Biden- 66
Dean Phillips- 75
Marianne Williamson- 77
I generally prefer the democrats to leftists, even accounting for 10 point advantage I give the democrats by default.
The fact is they're just more practical and less insane on foreign policy. And on economics there just isnt a huge gap outside of my two priorities that shows up in the data. As for looking at my economic priorities, let's look at metric 2.
Metric 2
This metric is more focused and is a measurement of consistency on my economic priorities
Basic income support- 40
Medicare for all support- 25
Free college/student debt forgiveness- 15
Climate change- 10
Housing- 10
Total- 100
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Basic income support- 12/40
Gotta give him at least some credit there.
Medicare for all support- 8/25
Eh, again, his stance is too confusing to give him higher
Free college/student debt forgiveness- 15/15
Like everything else, RFK's stance seems confusing. He seems somewhat in favor of free college and student debt forgiveness, but he's kinda unclear on it. Still it looks like he supports it, so I'll give him a good mark.
Climate change- 3/10
RFK sees climate change as divisive. He speaks of environmentalism but not solving climate change. he seems somewhat progressive on the issues but seems to dance around it since he's trying to cater to cranks. I'll give him like a 3/10.
Housing-4/10
He has a relatively moderate housing policy but nothing that really SOLVES the issue.
Total: 42/100
RFK Jr. likes to talk a big game about being progressive, and sure, he has some nice ideas, but all in all, he's way too moderate on most fronts.
Jill Stein
Basic income support- 8/40
I mean, she doesn't seem to be running on it this time but she was open to it previously.
Medicare for all support- 25/25
She supports medicare for all
Free college/student debt forgiveness- 10/15
She mentions free college but not so much student debt forgiveness
Climate change- 5/10
She supports a green new deal, so...
Housing- 7/10
She supports a right to housing but no policies outlined. I'm going to assume she supports something similar to Williamson where she makes it part of her green new deal, but I can't give her full credit without confirmation.
Total- 55/100
Jill Stein is okay. I mean, sometimes shes too vague, or extreme, but we do align somewhat on issues.
Cornel West
Basic income support- 12/40
He has that commission at least.
Medicare for all support- 25/25
More medicare for all than medicare for all, whatever that means.
Free college/student debt forgiveness- 15/15
Supports it
Climate change- 5/10
More green new deal than a green new deal. I wont take off points for it, despite it sounding horrifyingly extreme to me given I already dont support a green new deal
Housing- 3/10
No mention of a housing policy other than eliminating coverage gaps and ending credit scores.
Total- 60/100
Here he does slightly better than Stein. I dont think his policies are more realistic than stein's though, they're actually less. But Im not measuring directly the feasibility of his policies here, that's more metric 1's job.
Overall
RFK Jr.- 42
Jill Stein- 55
Cornel West- 60
(Democrats)
Joe Biden- 41
Dean Phillips- 58
Marianne Williamson- 95
Yeah, I still prefer williamson. Cornel west edged out dean phillips but I'd say i feel roughly the same about the two of one on economic issues alone, despite being different ideologies. Stein is a bit more moderate. RFK slightly edges out Biden, but honestly, it's hard to tell with RFK sometimes. He's so vague it's like, what is he actually for?
All in all though, given the broader snapshot in metric 1, I think I'd rather have Biden though. If I were in an anti democratic party mood i could protest vote with stein or west, but given how I feel about them generally I dont see much of a point. My actual behavior with voting is actually closer to being based on metric 1 rather than metric 2 this election, since I am motivated by non economic factors this time like foreign policy, pragmatism, and not being a spoiler for trump. As such, whatever advantage stein and west have is quickly neutralized.
Warmness rating
Robert F Kennedy Jr- 35/100
I am a bit more negative toward RFK. I dont see him as being that progressive, and if anything I kinda see him as weaker than Biden in a lot of ways. I also think he's kind of a crank on vaccines and stuff. Not my cup of tea. He's grown on me somewhat, but as I said Id rather try to get trumpers away from trump and into this guy rather than expecting him to be progressive.
Jill Stein- 40/100
I am a bit negative toward Stein. She has no real policy agenda other than a couple platitudes and her campaign serves no real purpose.
Cornel West- 50/10
He at least gets into neutral territory. If I did go third party I think i'd go west over stein. If only because I'd rather support the candidate who actually takes solid positions on things and I know what he's about.
Of course, I don't really like any of these guys all that much. And given Biden got 55, Phillips 65, and Williamson 75, I'm not really inclined to support any of these guys.
Like, I'm sorry, but without UBI Im not super passionate about anyone. i've diverged from traditional leftists and want different policies. i would make some compromises out of necessity that would fail many leftist purity tests, and likewise, leftists often fail mine.
I really tend to view leftists no more favorably than Biden these days. Which is saying something. Part of this is because my view on Biden has improved, part of this is because my view on the left has declined. Hence why Im not super passionate about protest voting this time. Biden has kinda sufficiently earned my vote to the point im not willing to risk a protest vote on someone im not super big on anyway.
If anything, progressive democrats fighting within the democratic party are doing a better job appealing to my interests than those outside of the democratic party for the most part. There is a lot we can improve on over Biden, but policy matters, experience matters, worldview matters. And I just dont see leftists as having pragmatic views, experience, or a worldview I actually align with fully any more.
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