September 9, 2016 11:56 AM
2016 General Election Debates
In order to be invited to participate in the debates being sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates a candidate must achieve a minimum threshold of 15% in an average of the following polls by the middle of September: ABC/WP, CBS/NYT, CNN/ORC, Fox News and NBC/WSJ.Clinton and Trump will obviously meet the threshold; the question is whether Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, and Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, will cross the threshold. If either of them crosses the threshold for the first debate their running mates will be invited to participate in the vice-presidential debate.
The candidates must also demonstrate that they are on enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning 270 electoral votes.
Johnson and Stein must achieve the same threshold before the 2nd and 3rd debates. As of today, it does not appear that either of them will qualify.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have both agreed to participate.
First Presidential Debate:
Monday, September 26, 2016
Hofstra University
Long Island, Hempstead, NY
Moderator: Lester Holt – NBC
Vice Presidential Debate:
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Longwood University, Farmville, VA
Moderator: Elaine Quijano – CBS
Second Presidential Debate:
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Moderator: Anderson Cooper – CNN & Martha Raddatz – ABC
Third Presidential Debate:
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Moderator: Chris Wallace – Fox News
The Washington Watch relies on the following sources of political data: Cook Political Report, Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Ballotpedia, Real Clear Politics.com; The Green Papers.com; Huffpost – Pollster.com and Polling Report.com.
