No Gary Johnson Or Jill Stein At First Presidential Debate

All of the polls included the four-way match-ups with the third party candidates. Though not entirely unexpected, the announcement is a significant blow to Libertarian Party nominee Johnson, the third-party candidate with the biggest chance to make an electoral impact this year.

The Commission on Presidential Debates have confirmed Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein will not share the stage with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for the highly anticipated first presidential debate. No other candidates satisfied the criteria for inclusion in the September 26 and October 4 debates.

Though his most blistering attacks were reserved Trump, McQuaid hardly spared Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, calling her “a selfish, self-centered, sanctimonious prig”. The RealClearPolitics website, which averages a variety of recent national polls, shows Johnson drawing 8.4 percent support and Stein 3.2 percent.

“Americans are exhausted of rigged systems, and the monopoly on debates created by the CPD is a prime and skillfully executed example”, he wrote. And Johnson’s campaign announced Tuesday that the candidate would be on ballots in all 50 states on election day.

Johnson said he wasn’t surprised by the decision to “exclude” him from the first debate.

“No way that if you’re running for president and you’re not in the presidential debates – 100 million people watching the debates – there’s no way that you could win”, Johnson told Newsy.

She leads by five points among likely voters in a two-way national race, 48 percent to 43 percent. “These choices should reflect the diversity of American political opinion, and not be restricted to two candidates nominated by establishment parties awash in corporate donations and billionaire support”.

The Quinnipiac poll called the election so far “a largely negative presidential campaign, where most Americans are voting against, rather than for, a candidate”.

Clinton and Trump will therefore be the only candidates to take part in the first debate, at Hofstra University on 26 September. The Commission will re-check the polling numbers between each presidential debate.