The Independent View: Sanders Suggests Lowering Presidential Debate Access Bar for Third-Party Candidates

Bernie Sanders, the runner-up for the Democratic Presidential nomination, said Sunday that the threshold should probably be lower for Third-Party candidates such as Libertarian Gary Johnson to take part in the fall debates.

Sanders, an independent Senator from Vermont, was asked about the current 15% polling threshold during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Probably too high,” said Sanders, who is set to return to the Campaign trail Monday in New Hampshire on behalf of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Gary Johnson, a former Governor of New Mexico, has reached double digits in some National polls but does not appear likely to clear the bar of 15% set as a participation requirement by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).

To qualify for the debates, a candidate must average 15% in recent polls before each debate, from the following media: ABC-Washington Post; CBS-New York Times; CNN-Opinion Research Corporation; Fox News; NBC-Wall Street Journal.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein is likely to fall well short of meeting the participation requirements.

The Commission also requires candidates to be on ballots in enough states to have a mathematical chance of winning the Presidency.

During his “Meet the Press” appearance, Sanders did not suggest a different polling figure to qualify for the General Election debates but said it “probably should be lower” than 15%.

The standard has been in place since 2000. On its website, the Commission says its judgment was that “the 15 percent threshold best balanced the goal of being sufficiently inclusive to invite those candidates considered to be among the leading candidates, without being so inclusive that invitations would be extended to candidates with only very modest levels of public support, thereby jeopardizing the voter education purposes of the debates.”

Sanders also told host Chuck Todd that he thinks that Clinton, if elected President, “should cease all operations, all contact with the Clinton Foundation.” Sanders stopped short of saying that the Charitable Foundation itself should be shut down, citing “a lot of good work” that it does fighting AIDS around the globe.

The Foundation, which has been a project of Clinton, her husband and her daughter, has said that it will cease taking foreign and corporate donations if she reaches the White House. Some Democratic allies of Clinton have suggested that those steps should be taken now.