The two major party nominees, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, will have the stage to themselves at the first presidential debate, scheduled for September 26 in Hempstead, N.Y. Tim Kaine and Gov. Mike Pence is set for October 4 at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. But Johnson was only polling at an average of 8 percent in the five polls used for the criteria.
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Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks to supporters at a rally on September 10, 2016 in NY.
Johnson was joined by his vice-presidential running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, and comedian Drew Carey, the co-owner of the Seattle Sounders.
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has secured ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, his campaign has announced, making him the first third-party candidate in 20 years to do so.
The first debate will be held on September 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Lester Holt will moderate. This compares to national averages of nearly 42 percent for Clinton and almost 40 percent for Trump.
“I would say I am surprised that the CPD has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not”, Johnson said. A recent poll conducted by USA TODAY from Aug 24-29 concluded that 76 percent of Americans believe a third candidate should be included in the Presidential debates. “Democrats and Republicans make up the presidential debate commission, 15 percent is not the law”.
“Oh, if we we’re gonna disqualify candidates for one comment they’d like to have back, it’d be a very small debate”, he said on MSNBC.
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Both have railed against the commission’s criteria, saying that it unfairly limited voters’ options in an election cycle where the two major-party nominees are both historically disliked. “There are more polls and more debates, and we plan to be on the debate stage in October”. 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”.
