In announcing that it invited only Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to the September 26 event, the non-partisan, non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates said it “applied its Nonpartisan Candidate Selection Criteria” – polling requirements that left out Johnson.
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In order for Johnson or Stein to qualify for the first debate, they would have had to average 15 percent or more.
The commission’s criteria for participation will be reapplied to all candidates before the second and third presidential debates, scheduled October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis and October 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. According to an average collected by RealClearPolitics, Johnson averaged 8.4 percent support in the basket of polls, while Stein averaged 3.2 percent.
Green Party nominee Jill Stein, who is also excluded from the debates by the decision, reached a polling high of around 4%.
The debate on September 26 will feature only two candidates.
In an Elway Poll last month of Washington voters Johnson was a distant third, behind Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Johnson said in a statement that: “I would say I’m surprised that the CPD has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not”. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.
Stein’s campaign said in a statement that she would show up at Hofstra, invitation or no invitation, “accompanied by hundreds of supporters who will do everything in their power to uphold the principles of democracy in this election”. Their running mates will also not be allowed to participate in the vice-presidential debate October 4, the commission said.
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Fox’s Chris Wallace will moderate the third debate on October 19. CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate the second and third debates, respectively.
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“The CPD may scoff at a ticket that enjoys “only” nine or 10 percent in their hand-selected polls, but even nine percent represents 13 million voters, more than the total population of OH and most other states”, Johnson said in a statement.
