United States: billionaire rapper Kanye West candidate for president

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The rapper and billionaire producer, husband of reality star Kim Kardashian, announced this Saturday, July 5, his candidacy for the November presidential election in the United States. If this kind of independent candidacy of the parties is not a first, their chance of victory is much rarer.

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Kanye West says it in one of his songs: he wants to "  aim for the stars  ". The rapper announced this Sunday July 5 his candidacy for the American presidential election . If there has always been room for independents or representatives of small parties, like the Greens or Libertarians, alongside the heavyweights of Republicans and Democrats , American history shows how difficult it is to win scrutiny in these conditions.

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George Washington, the first American president, was also the last independent elected to this post, he was also opposed to the existence of parties. Since then, independents have been elected deputies, senators, governors, but never more president.

It takes millions of sponsorships to register in each state. Then, for the campaign, you have to dig into your personal fortune knowing that you will not be elected. The best-known (wealthy) independents, Ralph Nader and Ross Perrot, intended above all to gain from this experience notoriety useful to their business.

The independents, influential but never victorious

As far as televised debates are concerned, only independents with more than 15% of the voting intentions can participate. Ross Perrot was the last to achieve this, in 1992. In the election, he then received 19% of the vote but no vote at the electoral college - since most often in each state it is the winner who wins all the big names voters. The last time an independent recovered it was in 1968.

However, the role of independent candidates and those of third parties can be decisive. In 2000, the votes recovered by Ralph Nader would have made Al Gore lose to Georges Bush. And then, they would push Democrats and Republicans to add ideas to their programs: labor rights for the Socialist Party or privatization for the Libertarians.

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• USA elections 2020
• United States

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