If you’ve been following the US federal election, you’ll know that the country’s two main parties — the Democrats and the Republicans — are currently in the midst of deciding who they’re going to put in the race for the White House.

Most agree the race will ultimately be a square-off between Hillary Clinton on the Democrat card and Jeb Bush on the Republican ticket. But wild card candidates like Donald Trump are gaining a surprising amount of traction among American voters.

However, a new candidate even more ridiculous than Donald Trump’s hair has recently entered the conversation and he’s doing surprisingly well in the numbers, especially for a candidate that doesn’t, well, technically exist.

As The Daily Beast reports, Deez Nuts is an independent candidate from the state of Iowa and he’s currently polling at nine percent in North Carolina for President of the United States and eight percent in his home state.

Deez Nuts is the brainchild of 15-year-old Brady Olson, who filed to run for President of the United States with the Federal Election Commission on 26th July as Deez Nuts. “When I heard about the Limberbutt McCubbins story, I realized I could,” he tells The Daily Beast.

So this is happening…. who are you going to vote for?

Posted by Deez Nuts onThursday, August 20, 2015

For those unfamiliar with Limberbutt McCubbins, he is a cat from the US state of Kentucky who is also presently seeking the Democratic nomination for president and Olson hopes he can get McCubbins to run alongside him as “the Nuts/McCubbins ticket”.

It’s at this point that you’re probably wondering what all of this has to do with music, though some might already have a clue. As some readers will indeed be aware, there is a hardcore band from Melbourne known as Deez Nuts.

See, whilst Olson made the filing as a joke, he’s pretty committed to the joke and even asked Public Policy Polling to poll him. He was pitted against Trump and Clinton in Minnesota a few weeks ago and polled at seven percent.

When Deez Nuts’ numbers rose after two more polls, the whole thing took off. On Wednesday, Deez Nuts became a trending topic worldwide on Twitter. Naturally, it caught the attention of a few fans of the Melbourne group.

[include_post id=”444305″]

At the moment, if you take a second to browse around the band’s official Facebook page, it’s hard to find a nook or cranny that doesn’t feature a reference to the ‘Deez Nuts 2016’ campaign or someone asking if the band really are running for POTUS.

Even the official Georgia for Deez Nuts 2016 campaign Facebook page is on board, pestering the band to view their platform. Most of the band’s fans, meanwhile, are in on the joke, leaving rousing words of encouragement, such as, “I believe in you.”

The band have even addressed Olson’s viral campaign, taking to their Facebook page to share a link to a Rolling Stone about Deez Nuts 2016 and asking their fans, “So this is happening…. who are you going to vote for?”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine