Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will be the only candidates onstage for the first presidential debate in 10 days, after Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein failed to make the cut on Friday.
Neither Johnson nor Stein reached the 15 percent national polling threshold needed to qualify for the first debate on Sept. 26, as determined earlier this summer by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
“[T]he polling averages called for in the third criterion are as follows: Hillary Clinton (43 percent), Donald Trump (40.4 percent), Gary Johnson (8.4 percent) and Jill Stein (3.2 percent),” the Commission announced in a statement. “Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, and Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, qualify to participate in the Sept. 26 presidential debate and the Oct. 4 vice-presidential debate, respectively.”
The statement continued, noting that the same criteria “will be reapplied to all candidates in advance of the second and third presidential debates,” meaning Johnson or Stein could qualify for the either of the two remaining debates, though the chances of that happening seem unlikely.
Not making the first debate is a significant blow to Johnson, whose campaign has siphoned support from Clinton by attracting millennials and Bernie Sanders supporters.
“I hope voters get to see former GOP Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld on the debate stages this fall,” former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had tweeted last week.
“I would say I am surprised that the CPD has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not,” Johnson said in a statement. “After all, the Commission is a private organization created 30 years ago by the Republican and Democratic parties for the clear purpose of taking control of the only nationally-televised presidential debates voters will see. At the time of its creation, the leaders of those two parties made no effort to hide the fact that they didn’t want any third party intrusions into their shows.”
Johnson argued that his current polling level is consistent with winning more votes than the population of Ohio. He also pointed to Ross Perot’s gains in the polls after he was allowed to participate in the debates in 1992.
“Bill Weld and I will continue to fight to provide a voice and an alternative for independents, disenfranchised Republicans and Democrats, Millennials and others who aren’t satisfied with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as their options,” he added.
“It is unfortunate that the CPD doesn’t believe such a voice should be heard. There are more polls and more debates, and we plan to be on the debate stage in October,” Johnson concluded.
