Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will face off on Monday, Sept. 26 during the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, USA Today reported.
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The Libertarians have notched more ballot eligibility than the other minor party getting significant attention this election cycle, the Green Party, which has tapped Jill Stein as its presidential nominee.
With the November 8 USA presidential election fast approaching, preparations are underway for the first of three televised debates featuring Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. The polling averages showed Clinton with 43 percent, Trump with 40.4 percent, Johnson with 8.4 percent and Stein with 3.2 percent.
Johnson cried foul, claiming the commission was intentionally enforcing the two-party status quo.
There are two more debates scheduled after the first event on September 26: One on October 9 in St. Louis and another October 19 in Las Vegas.
The commission said in its release that both Stein and Johnson will be re-evaluated for entry to later debates. 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. It excluded two third-party candidates who had hoped the event could help them talk directly to an electorate unhappy with the two front-runners.
They served as Republicans in Democratic states and were re-elected in a landslide. “Americans are exhausted of rigged systems, and the monopoly on debates created by the CPD is a prime and skillfully executed example”.
Evan McMullin, a conservative anti-Trump candidate, is (so far) on the ballot in 11 states.
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The candidates needed to make a 15% polling threshold across several major national polls in order to qualify for the debates. Clinton and Trump have both previously confirmed that they will participate in the first debate, set to take place September 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. He also pointed to polls in 15 states that have the Libertarian ticket clocking in at more than 15 percent.
