Democrats fear Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., might join the No Labels third-party effort in a run for president, effectively sucking up votes from President Joe Biden, but the moderate says the polarization of both parties is to blame.
"The political parties have become so extreme — going to the extreme left and extreme right — that the average common-sense people don't have a home," Manchin told "The Cats Roundtable" on 77 WABC FM in New York, The Hill reported. "They've been left politically homeless.
"The country was not designed to be this divided."
Americans are more and more registered independent — a plurality now and moving toward a potential majority down the road — but the No Labels talk of a third-party run on a "unity ticket" is a divisive concept in American politics, potentially threatening the power of both Democrats and Republicans in winning elections.
"The people in New York aren't divided, or in West Virginia," Manchin told host John Catsimatidis. "It's basically the political parties in Washington with their business model that they get better returns and their business does much better when you're fighting and dividing each other, versus uniting each other."
Manchin spoke at a No Labels town hall in the early primary state of New Hampshire last week and has yet to rule out a third-party presidential bid.
"I'm here trying basically to save the nation," Manchin said, according to The Hill. "I'm concerned more now than I've ever been concerned in my lifetime."