An online petition to make former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart a moderator in an upcoming presidential debate has reached 200,000 signatures.
The milestone was reached Friday evening at around 8:40 p.m. EST, and the petition continues to gain steam.
The petition asks the Commission on Presidential Debates to provide Stewart the opportunity to host one of the three major presidential debates directly preceding the 2016 election. The petition points to a May Reuters/Ipsos poll where 52.1 percent of Americans believe Jon Stewart “generally shares [their] view of the world.”
“Over the last 16 years, Jon Stewart has played an influential and iconic role in covering US politics and media,” reads the petition webpage on Change.org, an online platform for starting petitions. “We believe he should continue that tradition as a moderator at one of the 2016 Presidential Debates.”
In the first week of August Stewart stepped down as host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” where he had made a name for himself with his biting satirical commentary on news and politicians. During the course of his show, Stewart scored numerous interviews with celebrities and political power players, including President Obama. According to the petition, Stewart interviewed 15 heads of state, 22 members of the U.S. Cabinet, 32 members of the Senate, 7 members of the House of Representatives, and several other U.S. and world leaders.
In 2000 and 2004, “The Daily Show” won Peabody Awards for its coverage of presidential races. In 2010, Stewart and his protege Stephen Colbert, host of his own Comedy Central mock news show, and future “Late Night” host, hosted a political “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The rally drew a crowd of over 200,000 people.
The petition was created two weeks ago by Change.org member Mariel Waters from Stanhope, N.J. In an interview with NJ.com, Waters, a high school social studies teacher, said she created the petition for Stewart to become a debate moderator because he has a “track record of being successful at getting people off talking points, challenging them, and getting them to a more genuine place.”
Waters, a registered independent, called the first Republican debate on Fox News “a spectacle.”
A hashtag on Twitter, #wewantjon, is also being used to campaign for Stewart’s participation in a debate.
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley announced Thursday night that he included his name in the petition. “Signed. Jon Stewart moderating or not, #WeNeedDebate,” tweeted the former Maryland governor.
No word yet from Stewart on his opinion of the petition.
