Some are bald, some are hairy, and some have wrinkles, but the 2016 presidential candidates share more in common than we give them credit for. Most of them come from political backgrounds, exude passion for the issues that matter, and spend their time campaigning around the country vying for your vote.
With the exception, of course, being Deez Nuts.
Mr. Nuts is surprisingly not a living, breathing candidate, but an idea created by 15-year-old Brady Olson from Iowa, and has been the talk of the Internet since it was revealed that he (they?) are polling at upwards of 9 percent in states like North Carolina, Minnesota, and Iowa. Brady has since been interviewed countless times, and the young man says he is trying to make a statement about the two party political system, and as pundits race to analyze and pick apart the views and stances of a high schooler, let me just take a second to repeat the previous sentence.
Deez Nuts is polling at 9 percent in North Carolina.
Think about that. North Carolina has a population of 9,944,000 people. 9% of North Carolina equals 894,960 citizens. That means 894,960 people, if given the opportunity right now, would vote for the personification of this.
To add a little comparison, Jimmy McMillian, or more commonly known as the "Rent is 2 Damn High" candidate, serves as one of the more popular fringe candidates from the 2012 presidential season, garnering widespread public attention leading up to the election. At the peak of his popularity, McMillian announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York, and as the months passed and the polls closed, the results were in.
McMillan received 1,990 votes (or .18%).
If that doesn't do anything for you, how about this? You could fit all those people inside the eight largest stadiums in the world, and still have some room to spare.
What I'm trying to say is this: Deez Nuts may not have a real shot at winning the election, but they don't need one. People who claim to be totally indifferent to politics are suddenly talking about how Deez Nuts is going to "change the game." If by some stroke of good fortune he manages to stick around until February 1 (the tentative date of the Iowa caucus), people who have never voted before may actually go to the polls to see this joke through. Say what you want, but when percentages from all three polled states are combined, Mr. Nuts would have enough votes to have taken third place in the 2012 election.
It may be early, but don't count out Deez Nuts just yet.
