In an interview with National Journal, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader discussed his impact on the presidential race, the current financial crisis, and other issues. Discussing who votes for him, Nader said, “It is a bit eyebrow-raising because most people think the vast majority of our votes come from the Democrats, but it’s never been true. In 2000, on the exit polls, Greenberg exit polls, 25 percent would have gone to Bush, 40 to Gore, and the rest would have stayed home.” And this year, “I think it’s even more scattered — all kinds of different reasons people vote for us — libertarian reasons, progressive reasons, liberal Republicans turned off, blue-collar workers who resonate to a lot of our living wage and occupational health issues. It’s really quite interesting.”

On the financial crisis, Nader said, “I would have tried to prevent it. Now that you got the mess, so let’s back up. I was constantly against the and Heritage and Cato’s deregulation mania. … This is a crisis that was born out of deregulation, letting them do whatever they want.”

Asked if he would raise taxes, Nader said, “Mmm-hmm. Get rid of the tax cut for the wealthy. … Our country should tax first — before we tax human labor and necessities — tax first that which the society likes the least or dislikes the most. So we tax securities; derivatives; speculation — huge revenue from that tiny, tiny tax; carbon tax — we don’t like pollution; gambling industries; addictive industries — they should be taxed more; corporate crime, that should be taxed. So you tax all these things you want to diminish through the tax power.”