Five Democrats Have Qualified For The January Debate -- Who Else Might Make It?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

When it comes to presidential primary debates, there’s no holiday break. The sixth Democratic debate took place just last night, but today the Democratic National Committee released the qualification rules for the seventh debate, which will take place on Jan. 14 in Iowa.

To qualify, candidates need to reach 5 percent support in at least four national or early-state polls, or 7 percent support in at least two early-state polls, from qualifying polling organizations released between Nov. 14 and Jan. 10. But candidates must also have at least 225,000 unique donors, including at least 1,000 donors in at least 20 states or territories. Based on what we know, five candidates have already made the January stage.

The four candidates leading the polls nationally and in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — all easily made the seventh debate. But Sen. Amy Klobuchar, too, has already qualified — she’s hit at least 5 percent in just enough polls and her campaign says she has the donors.

For the other two candidates on stage Thursday night — tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang and billionaire activist Tom Steyer — the new requirements appear reachable but aren’t a sure thing. Steyer already has two qualifying polls and had 200,000 donors for the last debate, so getting two more polls and 25,000 more donors is plausible. However, Steyer hasn’t had a qualifying poll of at least 5 percent since just before the Nov. 20 debate. That’s partly because he’s been stronger in early-state polls, and every qualifying poll released in the past month has been a national survey. As for Yang, he has the donors but only one poll of 5 percent or better. Yang hit the 5 percent mark only once for the sixth debate, so he’s going to need to improve his polling numbers to get three more.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/five-democrats-have-qualified-for-the-january-debate-who-else-might-make-it/

[Sloumeau]

1. Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin, thanks for posting this! :)

[Demsrule86]

2. I hope no one else makes it...time to narrow the field.

[still_one]

3. +++

[Demsrule86]

9. Thank you.

[Polybius]

6. I agree, and five is too much IMO

Time to make this a three or four person race, and up the percentage to 8%.

[Demsrule86]

8. I absolutely agree...Iowa is almost here...we don't need this many lower tier candidates.

[sheshe2]

4. Kick

[Renew Deal]

5. This is an interesting problem for Bloomberg

Who I believe has reached the polling threshold, but will take a long time to reach the donor requirements.

[Capt. America]

7. I certainly don't want Bloomberg on the stage. He thinks he can sweep in at the last minute

and spend a lot of money without putting in the work. No thank you. Go away Repubican.