JAKARTA - The famous rapper Kanye West has attracted worldwide attention after declaring his intention to run as a presidential candidate in the United States (US) general election, November 3. It's not easy, obviously. However, there are steps Kanye can take. Clear steps full of challenges.
Kanye's statement was uploaded on his personal Twitter account, Saturday, July 4. That means Kanye only has four months to stand as an official competitor to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. A political expert from Purdue University, Indiana, James McCann discusses the steps Kanye can take and all of its challenges.
McCann said there were two paths for Kanye. First, gathering support from smaller political parties. Of course, it's not easy to compete with the two big powers behind Trump (Republic) and Biden (Democrats). Unmitigated. Kanye must compete with the dominance of the two camps in 50 states plus their districts.
If that is not the case, another step is to run as an independent candidate. However, deadlines for registering as an independent candidate have passed in several states, including New Mexico and North Carolina which are major battlefields.
Another challenge if Kanye wants to run independently is staff recruitment. Administratively, Kanye is clearly going to need a lot of staff and volunteers who can work fast to collect tens of thousands of signatures across the country before other registration periods close in August and September.
All field conditions will be more difficult for Kanye to do during a pandemic. "It's hard to see Kanye West doing field operations," McCann said, adding there was another option for him to have supporters put his name on the ballot.
Furthermore, University of Virginia Political Center Director Larry Sabato explained, even with a serious campaign, Kanye might not get more than one percent of the vote. The calculation is seen from the results of exploring the potential votes between Trump and Biden. "He still has a long way to go to convince us he is serious," said Sabato.
There is a precedent that can be seen from Kanye's intention to run as a presidential candidate. In the 2016 election, a former CIA agent, Evan McMullin, tried to get ahead in the US election. That intention was conveyed in August 2016. McMullin then only appeared in the ballot in eleven states, with only 0.53 percent of the vote.
"There are ways to run as an outsider. But it's difficult and expensive. And I think West or someone else has missed their chance to have a meaningful impact," said Nathan Gonzales, Editor of Inside Elections, which provides non-partisan analysis.
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