Iowa caucus won’t decide next GOP debate as RNC releases complex rules
The RNC and ABC News have released surprising criteria for its upcoming Republican presidential debate on Saturday, Feb. 6 in Manchester, New Hampshire. There will be no separate “undercard debate” and only the top three performers in Iowa are guaranteed a slot on the stage in the next debate.
Based on the criteria: there are three different ways candidates can make it onto the stage for the debate, which will be held just days before the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary.
First, a candidate can place among the top three candidates, ranked according to the popular vote, in the Iowa GOP caucuses.
Second, a candidate can qualify by placing among the top six candidates in an average of New Hampshire GOP presidential polls that are recognized by ABC News. Those polls must have been conducted no earlier than Jan. 1 and must be released before 5 p.m. ET next Friday.
And finally, another way a candidate can qualify for the debate is by placing among the top six candidates in an average of national GOP presidential polls recognize by ABC News. The same time limits for the polls listed above apply to this criterion as well.
The recent New Hampshire polls are showing Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and then Chris Christie.
[…] the same as Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and John Kasich, who all finished behind Paul in Iowa. Only the top three are guaranteed a spot in the next debate with ABC using polls to fill the stage, not the results from […]