Sanders: Debate threshold 'probably too high'

The requirement that presidential candidates average at least 15 percent support in national polls in order to earn a spot on the general election debate stage is “probably too high,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday morning.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced its 15 percent threshold last year, and last month it announced the set of five national polls it would use to measure each candidate’s support. The barrier is no problem for Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, but it presents a potentially insurmountable hurdle for alternative candidates like Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.


“So you think that level, that 15 percent, is a fair metric?” host Chuck Todd asked Sanders on NBC's "Meet the Press."

“Probably too high,” the Vermont independent replied. “Probably should be lower than that.”

Todd's query was part of a line of questioning regarding support among millennials — who largely favored Sanders during the Democratic primary — turning to Johnson and Stein in the general election.

Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, has long insisted that there is a real path to the White House for him and running mate Bill Weld in an election in which both major-party candidates are highly unpopular. But without a spot on the debate stage, Johnson said it’s “game over” for his chances of winning the presidency.

Neither Johnson nor Stein has seriously threatened to break the 15 percent barrier and earn a spot on the debate stage. In polls that ask respondents about a four-way race, Johnson’s RealClearPolitics polling average is 7.8 percent, while Stein’s is 3.1 percent.

Sanders will campaign on his own Monday on behalf of Clinton at the AFL-CIO’s breakfast in New Hampshire and then later in the day at a high school. The Vermont senator won New Hampshire, the second state in the primary process, handily over Clinton.