Nader’s Tally Way Off 2000 Showing

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader fell far short of his success in 2000, winning 400,000 votes, or 0.3%, after collecting 3 million votes four years ago.

No battleground state margins were close enough for Nader to have a significant effect, unlike the last election, when many Democrats saw Nader as a spoiler whose tallies in tight races like Florida helped tip the balance toward President Bush by siphoning votes from Al Gore.

“We obviously didn’t go into this expecting to win,” said Nader campaign spokesman Kevin Zeese. “We saw ourselves in the historical role of dissenter.”

A combination of factors, including a polarized electorate and lingering Democratic hostility toward Nader, contributed to the consumer advocate’s diminished support, experts said.

“The whole spoiler thing from 2000, he couldn’t shake that,” said J. Patrick McGrail, an assistant professor of communications at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. “This helped create a groundswell of anti-Nader support among liberal people who would otherwise be inclined to support him.”

Zeese attributed Nader’s weakened showing to limited ballot access. Democrats and others fought in court to keep Nader off the ballot in more than a dozen states; he appeared on 34 states’ ballots.

Nader, 70, is unsure whether he will make another presidential bid.

“He probably won’t decide that until 2007 and a half,” Zeese said. “He will continue advocating a multi-party system.... We’re not going away.”