Before it formalized qualifying criteria in 2000, the commission selected participants in a more subjective way, and a third-party candidate hasn’t appeared alongside Democrats and Republicans on the stage since 1992.
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Candidates were required to reach 15% support in a selection of national polls to qualify, which means the Green Party’s Jill Stein also failed to win an invitation.
Meanwhile, Johnson said in a statement he wasn’t surprised by the decision to “exclude” him from the first debate. Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, and Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, qualify to participate in the September 26 presidential debate and the October 4 vice-presidential debate, respectively. 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.
The September 26 presidential debate, to be televised nationally, comes as the race tightens between Clinton and Trump ahead of the November 8 election.
It marks the first time since 1996 that a third-party candidate has been able to secure ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The Congressional Debate Commission is using a standard of being over 15 percent in the polls, but that is a very flawed metric.
Johnson made the comments in response to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, who said there are reports that Weld, a former GOP governor of MA, is considering leaving the Libertarian ticket. They are running off this news by purchasing a full-page ad on the New York Times asking the debate commission to include them on the debate stage. To ensure orderly presidential debates, the CPD established the selection criteria to ensure participation is limited to the most viable candidates.
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The chance of Johnson and Stein debating this fall have not been completely eliminated, however. 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”. The second debate will be on October 9 and the third on October 19 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
