Democrats appear headed for a one-night presidential debate featuring 10 candidates in September
A formal announcement of qualifiers for the Sept 12. debate is expected Thursday. For other candidates to qualify, another poll would have to surface by the end of the day Wednesday.
Besides Biden, those who have qualified for the stage include Sen. Cory Booker (N.J); South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Obama Cabinet secretary Julián Castro; Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.); former congressman Beto O’Rourke (Tex.); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
If additional candidates qualify, the field would be split over two nights for the debate being hosted by ABC News. Before Wednesday, 10 candidates had previously qualified by receiving donations from at least 130,000 people and ranking at 2 percent or better in four DNC-sanctioned polls.
With the more stringent rules, several Democratic candidates who participated in June and July debates appear shut out of a spot on the September stage: Sen. Michael F. Bennet (Colo.); Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; New York Mayor Bill de Blasio; former congressman John Delaney (Md.); Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii); Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.); Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio); and author Marianne Williamson. Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who did not participate in the earlier debates, would need one more poll putting him at 2 percent to qualify for the September debate.
Candidates will have more time to qualify for an October debate, which will operate under the same rules.
The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released Wednesday morning showed Biden leading the Democratic field, with the support of 32 percent of likely voters. He was followed by Warren with 14 percent and Sanders, with 12 percent.
Five other candidates received support of 2 percent or more: Buttigieg and Harris, both with 6 percent; Yang, with 3 percent; and O’Rourke and Booker, both at 2 percent.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Biden leading the pack with 32 percent of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic. He was followed by Warren at 19 percent, Sanders at 15 percent, Harris at 7 percent, Buttigieg at 5 percent and Yang at 3 percent. No other candidate topped 1 percent.
The results of the two polls released Wednesday morning were different from a national Democratic primary poll from Monmouth University released Monday that found a virtual three-way tie between Biden, Warren and Sanders.
“As other national polls of 2020 Democratic race have been released this week, it is clear that the Monmouth University Poll published Monday is an outlier,” Patrick Murray, the poll’s director, said in a statement Wednesday. “This is a product of the uncertainty that is inherent in the polling process.”