Republican presidential candidates from left, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and John Kasich take the stage for the first Republican presidential debate in August. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The stage at the GOP debate in Colorado later this month may look different from earlier presidential race contests.
Debate host CNBC on Wednesday announced that will decide who gets the prime-time attention, who must settle for an earlier appearance and who gets cut out of the picture. is scheduled for Oct. 28 at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The network is not limiting the number of candidates who appear in the main debate, but it is setting a new threshold for who qualifies. To be eligible for the two debates, a candidate must score at least 1 percent in one of the national polls conducted by NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and Bloomberg between Sept. 17 and Oct. 21.
The top-tier debate at 8 p.m. will include any candidate with an average 2.5 percent or higher standing — which right now includes Donald Trump (23 percent), Ben Carson (17 percent), Carly Fiorina (11.5 percent), Marco Rubio (9.8 percent), Jeb Bush (9 percent), Ted Cruz (6 percent), John Kasich (4 percent), Chris Christie (3.8 percent), Mike Huckabee (3.5 percent) and Rand Paul (2.8 percent), according to data.
At this point, the earlier 6 p.m. debate will feature Rick Santorum (0.8 percent), Bobby Jindal (0.5 percent) and George Pataki (0.3 percent). Not invited at all : Lindsey Graham and Jim Gilmore.
The numbers may change as new polls come out and Paul is certainly on the hot seat to maintain his numbers and make the top debate.
Jindal about the criteria. But the Republic National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus defended the rules, saying “we applaud CNBC’s efforts to ensure that all of our top candidates will have an opportunity to share their views with the American people.”
