Third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein were officially told Friday that they would not be invited to participate in the first presidential debate, prompting both to protest that they were being arbitrarily denied a chance to present alternatives to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to a national audience.
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The candidates needed to make a 15 percent. polling threshold across several major national polls in order to qualify for the debates. Libertarian Mr Johnson and Dr Stein, the Green Party candidate, stand at 8.4 per cent and 3.2 per cent respectively, according to the organisation’s review of five recent polls, with Ms Clinton on 43 and Mr Trump on 40.4. Their running mates will also not be allowed to participate in the vice-presidential debate October 4, the commission said. When Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are in the mix, however, Clinton’s lead shrinks to just two points. He’s spent months, if not years, publicly campaigning to get himself on the stage, arguing that debates are crucial to legitimizing his candidacy and to eliminating the two-party stranglehold on American politics.
Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, has said that participation in the presidential debates was crucial to his candidacy.
“I would say I am surprised that the CPD has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not”.
McMullin has had more luck gaining ballot access since then, but in some states, such as Texas, he is an “official write-in candidate” – eligible for electoral votes if a plurality of voters write him in but not on the ballot.
Before the announcement, Team Clinton was in panic mode over third parties siphoning votes from its candidate. Participants much have demonstrated a 15 percent level of support based on recent polls.
The campaign said it is “organizing nonviolent civil resistance training for this”.
For now, third-party supporters feel safe continuing to voice their discontent by backing Johnson, Skelley said.
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On her website, she said, “Voters have a right to hear directly from their possible choices for the highest office in the land”.
