Despite record levels of dissatisfaction with the Republican and Democratic candidates, nearly 70% of Americans know nothing about the Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Stein has consistently polled as the fourth-most popular option in the presidential race after Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Libertarian Gary Johnson. In the most recent CNN/ORC poll, Stein received 5% support nationwide, 4 points behind Johnson, her nearest competitor.
Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka hope to change that Wednesday at the CNN Green Party town hall.
Jill Stein
Occupation: Physician
Age: 66
Past experience: She ran for president in 2012 with the Green Party and ran for Massachusetts governor in 2002 against former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Stein also ran for state representative in 2004 and Massachusetts’ secretary of state in 2006 as the Green-Rainbow candidate.
Memorable quotes:
“If Donald Trump wins, Hillary Clinton deserves the blame because she knocked out Bernie Sanders through backstabbing & sabotage. #DNCleaks,” Stein tweeted.
“My campaign is the only one that’s not corrupted by lobbyists’ money, corporate money or super PACs, so I have the unique ability to stand for what the people need, not the banks,” she told CNN Tuesday. “I’m here to really empower people to let them know we can actually have those solutions that we need in order to move forward.”
In the news: Earlier this month, Stein dismissed anxieties that Russia could have been behind the Democratic National Committee hacking that has raised concerns of a foreign state or actor meddling in the US presidential election.
“This is routine,” said Stein, who added that there was “no question” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a hero. “This is what state departments do to one another.”
Surprising fact: Stein is a recording artist who has put out folk-rock recordings with the band Somebody’s Sister. She plays the conga, guitar and the djembe drum.
Top issues: Green jobs, campaign finance reform and increasing taxes on the wealthy.
Ajamu Baraka
Occupation: Associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning DC-based think tank
Age: 62
Past experience: Founding executive director of the US Human Rights Network, a network of more than 300 human rights organizations; served on several boards of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International.
Memorable quotes:
“We’ve got to address in a real way the ongoing assault on black lives in the United States of America,” Baraka told CNN Tuesday. “It appears that police in the US seem to understand that they are able to operate with almost virtual impunity because they are not being prosecuted and they are not being convicted.”
“It is absolutely outrageous that we have a Democratic process in which we only have two choices and those choices are very, very narrow,” he also told CNN.
“The fact that Barack Obama will be standing in the shadow of Dr. (Martin Luther) King (Jr.), his presence conveying the impression that he somehow represents the values and self-sacrificing lives of Dr. King … should be taken as an insult by everyone who has struggled and continues to struggle for human rights, peace and social justice,” he wrote prior to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Surprising facts: Baraka has military experience, unlike the candidates on the major party tickets. He served in Vietnam in the US Army.
In 1998, Baraka was one of 300 human rights workers honored by then-United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Top issues: Criminal justice reform, ending racial discrimination and helping the working poor.
