The candidates achieving a 2.5 are Trump (25.3%), Carson (24.5%), Marco Rubio (11.8%), Ted Cruz (10.0%), Jeb Bush (5.5%), Carly Fiorina (3.0%), John Kasich (2.8%) and Rand Paul (2.5%), according to the report.
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Christie needed to show at least 2.5 percent support nationwide in an average of four recent national polls that met the network’s criteria.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee failed to qualify for next Tuesday’s prime-time Republican presidential debate, which will feature a smaller field of eight candidates, Fox Business said on Thursday.
I completely agree that the criteria for inclusion in these debates aren’t all that great, but this is what everyone agreed to, and Christie didn’t make the cut this time. If you use RCP’s polls, either Bobby Jindal or Lindsey Graham will miss the undercard debate.
“We are grateful that our distribution partners, like us at FOX Business Network, recognize the importance of providing the debate to as many subscribers as possible”, FBN and Fox News Executive Vice President of Distribution Tim Carry said. “Except that now national polls drive the debates, and debates drive the polling”.
Next Tuesday the Republican presidential candidates will once again face off in the latest GOP debate.
Christie’s polling average in New Hampshire, depending on which aggregator you choose to believe, is somewhere around 4 percent – good enough for eighth place in a field of fourteen.
Fox Business also reported that Christie’s support from Home Depot co-founder and possible donor Ken Langone, a longtime ally who stuck with him throughout the Bridgegate, GWB Bridge lane-closing scandal, is falling off and he’s stopped trying to foster support for Christie.
“One thing voters look at is, ‘Do I like this guy?’ For Chris Christie they went from not liking him to liking him and that’s huge change for Chris Christie and I think a lot of it has to do with his debate performances as well as his performances in a lot of other venues as well”, he said.
The previous Republican prime-time debates had at least 10 contenders on stage. In a tweet shortly after the lineups were announced, Christie downplayed his relegation, saying the stage “doesn’t matter”. “In the end, the biggest loser tonight is the American people and the Republican Presidential primary process that has been hijacked by news outlets”, the senator’s campaign manager Christian Ferry said in a statement. National polls provide the best way of identifying the people they are most interested in learning about.
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The fourth GOP debate comes as numerous campaigns have threatened mutiny over debate formats and moderators, in particular following a rocky debate hosted last month by CNBC.
