The decision means Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump will be the only two candidates on the stage on September 26, and Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, their respective running mates, will be the only participants on October 4.
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The exclusion is a major blow to the already long-shot bids of Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, and Stein, the Green Party nominee.
That means that ten days from now, it will be Clinton and Trump mano-a-mano on the debate stage at Hofstra University – and their running mates will be the only ones who participate in the vice presidential debates. The RealClearPolitics website, which averages a variety of recent national polls, shows Johnson drawing 8.4 percent support and Stein 3.2 percent.
Johnson announced earlier this week that he and his running mate, Bill Weld, will appear on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.in November.
The last time a third-party ticket was able to make it on every state ballot was in 1996 when Libertarian nominee Harry Browne and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot were able to do so.
This clears a significant hurdle to kick-start his third-party bid. Johnson cites polling data that find 62 percent of those queried said they support his inclusion in the debate.
Johnson said his exclusion from the first debate reflects the bias of a private organization created by the Republican and Democratic parties to take control of the nationally televised debates.
The commission will evaluate polls again ahead of the second and third presidential debates in October. The CPD will reevaluate who will be included ahead of each debate.
The failure to be invited to the September 26 debate at Hofstra University deals a significant blow to Johnson and Stein, who are desperate for national exposure to promote their long-shot bids for the White House. But he is fiscally conservative, saying he wants to replace the income tax with a national sales tax and that, as president, he would submit a balanced budget.
Johnson and Jill Stein, the Green Party’s nominee, were left out.
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“I would say I am surprised that the CPD has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not”, Johnson said in a statement. The League of Women Voters calls the commission “a fraud on the American voter, as it sets arbitrary polling requirements to prevent the Republican and Democratic parties from having any competition”.
