WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Barack Obama urged US voters to put Hillary Clinton in the White House, warning that sitting out the November 8 election would support Donald Trump, who is “unqualified” for the job.
“If you don’t vote, that’s a vote for Trump,” he said of the Republican nominee during a radio interview on the Steve Harvey Morning Show that aired Wednesday.
“If you vote for a third-party candidate who’s got no chance to win, that’s a vote for Trump,” he added, referring to Libertarian contender Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Some supporters of Bernie Sanders — the Vermont senator who mounted a strong but ultimately unsuccessful challenge to Clinton in the Democratic primary elections — are tempted to support a third-party candidate who would hew to their left-leaning positions more closely.
“My legacy’s on the ballot. You know, all the work we’ve done over the last eight years is on the ballot,” Obama said in the interview, trying to mobilize the voters who elected him twice.
Many of them have little enthusiasm for Clinton, his fellow Democrat and former secretary of state, considering her calculating and untrustworthy, public opinion polls show.
“I don’t want anybody to stay home thinking this is any less important than 2008 or 2012,” Obama said, referring to his election as the first African-American US president and his re-election four years later.
If she wins, Clinton would be the first woman to serve as US president.
Trump is “unqualified,” Obama said. He “doesn’t do his homework, doesn’t know basic facts that you need to know if you’re going to be president of the United States.”
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