Graham isn’t the only candidate with a strong resume on paper who missed the cut – former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (who missed the last one) are out as well.
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The Fox Business Network has announced Thursday that low-polling for Christie, despite a few recent gains after his performance in the most recent GOP debate, has moved the governor to the second-tier of candidates of the next debate.
Missing the debate could add to the pressure for Graham to drop out of the GOP race, freeing a few of his S.C. backers, who supported his presidential run out of loyalty, to switch to a presidential candidate with better poll numbers.
Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be missing from the stage in Milwaukee for Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate.
Sen. Marco Rubio, while not going so far as to criticize the debate criteria, expressed his sympathy for Graham and Pataki on Fox News on Friday. The participants in the undercard debates have been given three months, and majority given three opportunities for free air time, and if they can’t even register one percent in the polls at this point, then it hardly makes sense to pay their campaigns serious attention. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky. While he only received 3 percent support in this week’s Quinnipiac poll, his favorability rate came in at 57 percent – a marked improvement from a poll in March. Lindsey Graham, who shined in the most recent undercard debate on CNBC, didn’t make the cut. Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Statistically, pollsters say, there is no significant difference between candidates lumped together near the bottom of the pack in national polls, which typically have a margin of error of 3 percentage points or more.
During a Fox News appearance Thursday morning, Christie seemed resigned to the fact that he would be seated at the undercard matchup.
Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie had their moment in the limelight, and they failed to impress. In a tweet shortly after the lineups were announced, Christie downplayed his relegation, saying the stage “doesn’t matter”.
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And Christie predicted that the diminished viewership and press attention for the undercard debate would not necessarily preclude a breakout moment for him.
