Statement by CNN Change in Debate Criteria for the Republican debates at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on September 16, 2015
In May, we announced criteria for our September 16th Republican debates at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. We said that we would use the average of approved national polls from July 16th through September 10th to determine the makeup of the debates. At the time, we expected there to be many more national polls following the first Republican debate, in August, than there appears there will be.
In fact, in 2007 and 2011, there were 16 and 15 approved national polls in the comprable August-September time frame.
We learned this week that there will likely be only two more polls by the deadline of September 10th. This year, there have been only three such national polls released.
In a world where we expected there to be at least 15 national polls, based on historic precedent, it appears there will be only five.
As a result, we now believe we should adjust the criteria to ensure the next debate best reflects the most current state of the national race.
In the event that any candidate is polling in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls released between August 7th and September 10th, we will add those candidates to our top tier debate, even if those candidates did not poll in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls between July 16th and September 10th. We have discussed these changes with the Republican National Committee and the Reagan Library andt hey are fully supportive.
