Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Next Monday’s presidential debate stage will only have two candidates: Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump.
Wednesday afternoon supporters of Libertarian Party Presidential Nominee Gary Johnson are protesting his exclusion from the first presidential debate.
To get a spot on the stage the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonpartisan nonprofit, requires a candidate have at least 15 percent support nationally. Johnson has only 8 percent support.
“Some of these polls are really just primarily polling Democrats and Republicans, and they’re only including, you know, 10 to 15 percent of independents in their sample size,” said Johnson supporter and protestor Christine Guerrero.
A Quinnipiac poll found 62 percent of likely voters would like to see Johnson included in the presidential debates. That number rises to 69 percent among likely independent voters.
“Right now the two party system is not representing us. The candidates that we think represent us are being ignored, and they’re not being allowed on the stage,” Guerrero said.
The protesters gathered outside the Commission on Presidential Debates.
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