WASHINGTON D.C. — Evan McMullin has proven to be a well-known name within the borders of Utah, but how well is the 2016 independent presidential candidate recognized on the streets of the nation’s capitol?
In recent polls, McMullin has topped Hillary Clinton in popularity with Utah voters, which may mean the Beehive State will become a toss-up in final polling results for the first time in 50 years.
However, on the streets of Washington, D.C., many do not recognize McMullin, while others said they wished he was on their ballots.
Susan (did not want to disclose last name), from Washington, D.C., told the Daily Universe she did not recognize McMullin’s face, but said she knew there was a man receiving votes and challenging Donald Trump’s potential victory in Utah.
Mary Gabel from Simi Valley, California, also didn’t recognize him, but thought there could be a good chance for him to win his home state.
“He’s from Utah, so he probably would win his own state,” Gabel said. “But he is a third party candidate; well, I don’t know, that’s a fifty-fifty.”
Likewise, Jeff Anderson and Kailynn Sill from Virginia did not recognize him, but they said an independent candidate winning a state would be interesting.
April Madrigal and Eric Laranang, both from Boston, had not heard of McMullin and didn’t think he would be able to throw the final presidential vote to the House of Representatives, as the candidate said he hopes to do.
“All of the attention is on the two … I think that is near impossible,” Laranang said.
However, McMullin was recognized by Eric Winkler from Switzerland who was visiting America. Winkler did not know what state McMullin was from, but he did know McMullin was running for president.
Winkler said it would be pretty cool if a different candidate won a state.
“If Trump wins, then Europe has problems as well, so we are definitely more for Hillary, but we don’t know if Hillary will make the world better as well,” Winkler said.
Jonathan Baddley from South Carolina recognized McMullin immediately and knew about his political views and that he was a former member of the CIA.
Baddley said McMullin is on the ballot in South Carolina, and that his friends had been texting him about it when they were out voting.
His wife, Amy Baddley, from Indiana, said she has heard a few people who said they were going to vote for him.
“I would have voted for him if he was on the D.C. ballot, but I wrote someone else in,” Amy Baddley said.
Jonathan Baddley said he hopes the independent candidate has a shot in Utah, and that if the vote did go to the House of Representatives, he said he could see a lot of Republicans pulling for McMullin.
Amy Baddley said she believes McMullin might be able to disrupt the system, even though she agrees it might be an off-chance.
“It’s clearly a long shot, but we like to think it’s a possibility,” Amy Baddley said.
