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Lead up to Eighth Presidential Primary Debate
Democratic National Committee
January 17, 2020
DNC Announces Qualification Criteria For New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary Debate
The
DNC and ABC today released the qualification
criteria for participation in the eighth Democratic presidential
primary debate, which will air on ABC, in partnership with WMUR-TV and
Apple News. There will be two pathways to qualification for the
New Hampshire debate. To qualify for the New Hampshire debate stage,
candidates may qualify either by (1) meeting a delegate threshold based
on the results of the Iowa caucuses, or (2) by meeting both a polling
requirement and a grassroots fundraising requirement. Qualifying
polls for the New Hampshire debate will include national polling and
polling in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. A candidate’s
support in Iowa will be reflected through the results of the Iowa
caucus instead of Iowa-specific polling. The deadline for qualifying
polls and donations is February 6 at 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time.
The official threshold rules are below:
QUALIFICATION CRITERIA FOR THE 2020 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
To qualify for the February 7, 2020 Democratic
presidential primary debate in New Hampshire (“New Hampshire Debate”),
candidates must meet the “Delegate Threshold” or the “Alternate
Threshold,” as detailed below.
I. Delegate Threshold. To meet
the Delegate Threshold for the New Hampshire Debate, candidates must
have been allocated at least one pledged delegate to the Democratic
National Convention (“National Convention Delegate”) from the state of
Iowa based on the results of the February 3rd, 2020 Iowa caucuses, as
reported and calculated by the Iowa Democratic Party.
II. Alternate Threshold. To
meet the Alternate Threshold for the New Hampshire Debate, candidates
must meet the Polling Requirement and the Grassroots Fundraising
Threshold as detailed below.
- Four-Poll Threshold. Receive 5% or more support in at least four polls (which may be national polls, or single-state polls in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada) meeting the Qualifying Poll Criteria described below. To meet the Four-Poll Threshold, each one of a candidate’s four qualifying polls must be sponsored by different Qualifying Poll Sponsors, or if by the same Qualifying Poll Sponsor, must be in different geographical areas.
- Early State Polling
Threshold. Receive 7% or more support in two single-state polls
in New Hampshire, South Carolina and/or Nevada that meet the Qualifying
Poll Criteria described below. To meet the Early State Polling
Threshold, any candidate’s two qualifying polls may be in the same or
different geographical areas and from the same or different Qualifying
Poll Sponsors.
For a poll to be counted towards the Four-Poll Threshold
or Early State Polling Threshold, it must meet each of the four
requirements described below (“Qualifying Poll Criteria”):
- Each poll must be sponsored by one of the following 15 entities or pairs of entities (“Qualifying Poll Sponsors”): Associated Press; ABC News/Washington Post; CBS News/YouGov; CNN; Fox News; Monmouth University; NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist; NBC News/Wall Street Journal; NBC News/Marist; New York Times/Siena College; Nevada Independent/Mellman Group; Quinnipiac University; University of New Hampshire; USA Today/Suffolk University; Winthrop University. For individual entities that are included only in Qualifying Poll Sponsor pairs but are not listed individually, independent polling by such individual entities or polling conducted in new partnerships with such individual entities shall not meet the Qualifying Poll Criteria. The DNC reserves the right to add a Nevada-specific poll sponsor and/or a South Carolina-specific poll sponsor to this list in the near future.
- Each poll must be publicly released between December 13, 2019 and 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on February 6, 2020.
- Each poll’s candidate support question must have been conducted by reading or presenting a list of Democratic presidential primary candidates to respondents. Poll questions using an open-ended or un-aided question to gauge presidential primary support will not count.
- Each polling result must be the top-line number listed in the
original public release from the approved Qualifying Poll Sponsor,
whether or not it is a rounded or weighted number.
b. Grassroots
Fundraising Threshold. To meet the Grassroots Fundraising
Threshold, candidates must submit a certification, executed by the
candidate’s campaign Treasurer, by 9:00 AM Eastern Time on February 7,
2020, demonstrating that the campaign has received donations from at
least (1) 225,000 unique donors; and (2) a minimum of 1,000 unique
donors per state in at least 20 U.S. states, U.S. territories, or the
District of Columbia. Qualifying donations must be received by 11:59
P.M. Eastern Time on February 6, 2020. An acceptable certification must
provide or attach adequate verifiable evidence to show that the
fundraising threshold has been reached and may include verification
from ActBlue or NGP VAN regarding the campaign’s fundraising.