How Republicans and Democrats exclude other candidates from the presidential debates

The Commission on the Presidential Debates (CPD), a tax-exempt nonprofit partnership between the Democratic and Republican parties, has selected 5 polls to determine who gets to participate in the all-important presidential debates. Under the commission's selected criteria, unless a candidate is the nominee of the Republican or Democratic party, he or she must receive a 15% average among the polls conducted by ABC-Washington Post, CBS-New York Times, CNN-Opinion Research Corporation, Fox News, and NBC-Wall Street Journal.

According to the CPD, these pollsters were chosen for their reliability, sample sizes, the soundness of survey method, and their reputation and longevity. This selection criteria fails to consider other real-world realities such as the universal consensus that traditional polling has become increasingly unreliable and that getting to 15% without significant media attention is nearly impossible.

It is also important to consider that the CPD does not articulate standards that the private pollsters must follow. The CPD, most simply, relies on these organizations to adopt their own methodologies.

To date, some of the CPD polls are rather suspect.

The recent CPD poll conducted by CNN, for example, has Gary Johnson at 9%, but includes "too small a share of the national population" for voters under 34 years of age to even produce crosstabs. Hard to believe that no one under the age of 34 is going to vote this election. And given that Gary Johnson is in first place with young voters, the CNN poll should be considered in that context. Further, the pollsters didn't even offer Gary Johnson as an option until after they had already asked voters to decide between Hillary and Trump.

And the latest Fox News poll also inaccurately suggests that our poll numbers have dropped to 9% overall. What is not included in the headlines is that the Fox News poll only included 17% independent voters. However, according to most polls, approximately 4 in 10 voters are independent. And given that 62% of Gary Johnson supporters are independents, the Fox polls should be considered within that context.

Notably, the Washington Post found our ticket at 10% or higher in 42 states, and at 15% or higher in 15 states.

The truth is, 62% of America wants Gary Johnson in the presidential debates. Rigged, unfair, or just downright unreliable is not the issue. America deserves better than a choice between two highly unpopular options. 

https://www.johnsonweld.com/our_polls_keep_rising