Professor predicts Kanye West could tap into 'protest vote' if he follows through with White House bid

Rapper Kanye West could receive a sizable "protest vote" if he goes forward with his quixotic presidential campaign, University of Maryland African-American Studies Professor Jason Nichols told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Friday.

"I don't think there's any chance he's going to win but I think people need to understand the power of a protest vote," Nichols told host Lisa Boothe. "There are many people who are completely dissatisfied with the direction the country is going under Donald Trump and there are people who don't like Joe Biden or don't think that he's coherent or competent, or whatever it is that's the narrative, and they're looking for someone who's another option."

Nichols told guest host Lisa Boothe that West's impact could be comparable to Jill Stein, the 2016 Green Party nominee who received more than 1.4 million votes in the general election.

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"I don't know anybody who actually agreed with Jill Stein," Nichols said. "She's an anti-vaxxer, she's kind of a strange character. But at the same time, they voted for her because they were dissatisfied with Hillary Clinton and they didn't like Donald Trump. I think it could very well happen with Kanye West, which will etch him into the history books, which I think is part of his purpose here."

Earlier this week, West filed Statement of Candidacy and Statement of Organization documents with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The latter document authorizes a political committee to raise and spend money on West's behalf, while the former indicates that West has raised at least $5,000 through campaign activity.

On Wednesday, the Oklahoma State Election Board announced that West had qualified for the ballot in the Sooner State.

West famously visited Trump at the White House in October 2018 and his wife, Kim Kardashian, sucessfully lobbied Trump to commute the sentence of Alice Johnson.

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"I think that's a big reason why he could be trouble for Donald Trump," Nichols said. "I think people who saw Donald Trump and said, 'Oh, well, all the claims that Donald Trump is racist, they are offset by the fact that he's an advocate for criminal justice reform' -- and I use 'advocate' very loosely.

"At the same time, Kanye West can take that from him. The Alice Johnson commutation was more [Kardashian's] work, arguably, than Donald Trump."

Fox News' Tyler McCarthy and Melissa Roberto contributed to this report.