Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’ Jill Stein have failed to qualify for the first presidential debate on september 26, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Friday.
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Johnson, a former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico who is running with former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, had previously said the debates were absolutely necessary for him to have any chance at winning the presidency.
Johnson averaged only 8.4 percent, and Stein came in at 3.2 percent, according to the commission.
But, all hope is not lost for the third-party candidates.
Stein’s appearance comes as the commission planning the presidential debates says neither Stein or Libertarian Gary Johnson will appear in the first debate set for a week from Monday, because they don’t poll high enough.
The first of three presidential debates is September 26 at Hofstra University in NY. Johnson is averaging 9 percent in Real Clear Politics’ polling average.
Regarding the upcoming Presidential debates: I’m writing on behalf of roughly 240 million Americans. “It should be noted that, when [Ross] Perot was allowed on the stage, polls showed his support to be in single digits, below where Johnson and Weld are now polling” he said. If you can still stand by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, please give me a good reason why candidates on the ballot in all 50 states should not be allowed to compare platforms and ideas with them in debate.
Voters in large numbers do not approve of the presidential candidates presented to them by the Democratic and Republican political parties. But with Friday’s announcement, Johnson is forced to sit out one of the most significant national events of the year.
Clapper stressed that the presidential daily briefing is not being shared with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
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In 1992, Perot got 18 percent of the popular vote, although he didn’t get any votes in the electoral college. He added the commission was an invention of the two major parties, created to exclude third parties from televised debates. No third-party candidate has earned as much as 1 percent of the vote since. These early results just tell Americans what they already, and painfully, know too well – Election 2016 will not bring the country together; it will only tear it apart. “I think he’s been treated very unfairly”.
