76% of voters want third-party candidates to take part in the presidential debates. But it’s not likely to happen unless Gary Johnson or/and Jill Stein do well enough in the polls to reach the 15% threshold for inclusion. That rule is set by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The official mission statement of the commission is
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 to ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners.
Best possible information? Yeah, sure. The debates were originally run by the League of Women Voters, but
In 1988, the League of Women Voters withdrew its sponsorship of the presidential debates after the George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis campaigns secretly agreed to a “memorandum of understanding” that would decide which candidates could participate in the debates, which individuals would be panelists (and therefore able to ask questions), and the height of the podiums. The League rejected the demands and released a statement saying that they were withdrawing support for the debates because “the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter.
—League Refuses to “Help Perpetrate a Fraud”
The Commission on Presidential Debates then took over.
The organization, which is a nonprofit corporation controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties, has run each of the presidential debates held since 1988. The Commission’s debates are sponsored by private contributions from foundations and corporations.
—Wikipedia
I’ll watch the debates if Johnson and/or Stein manage to raise their poll numbers high enough to get included. Otherwise I have better things to do with my time.
I can find better forms of entertainment than a presidential debate too.
Smart fellow. 🙂
I will await your comments!
Just one more example of human craziness.
totally agree.
maybe trump is right about one thing.
it’s all rigged.
even the debates.
and look who set the rules according to your Wikipedia quote…
the TWO parties. it’s a closed deal. and pretty much always guaranteed.
and they KNOW IT. sad. and ridiculous.
Yes, I hadn’t realized that before. It was the League of Women Voters statement that surprised me.
I will probably watch them anyway.
Not for what they say though.
In fact I might just turn off the sound and watch.
Of course they both are masters at lying but still
sometimes you can gain insight as to their expressions.
But I’m sure I won’t learn anything that I don’t already know about them.
I hope they get good moderators. From what I’ve read, Matt Lauer didn’t do a fair job during Wednesday’s forum.
I’ll watch, but stay on the sidelines. Getting wise in my old age!
I’ll be interested in what you think of them.
I’m rummuser, I await the comments…when we have debates here, they are all the running party leader/reps – & sometimes they get out of hand…