Last updated on: 6/30/2016 1:27:43 PM PST
Should the Presidential Debates Include Third Party Candidates?
Pro (Yes)
Pro
“A request to all of you [the audience at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Committee] – you have the ability to do this: get me in the presidential debates. Get the Libertarian nominee for president in the presidential debates."
Source: David Sherfinski, "Libertarian Gary Johnson to CPAC: Get Me into 2016 Presidential Debates," washingtontimes.com, Mar. 3, 2016
[Editor's Note: On Sep. 29, 2015, Gary Johnson joined a lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates, accusing the organization of "keeping Americans from hearing anyone but the two old parties in debates" and requesting that all candidates who could potentially secure a majority in the Electoral College be in the debates.]
Pro
"Polls show that 50% of Americans do not identify as either Democrat or Republican. 60% say the establishment parties are doing such a poor job of representing them we need a new major party. All this means that the Presidential debates restricted to the two presumptive nominees will silence the voices, views and values of at least half of all Americans…
Opening the debates should be part of a broader reform that replaces the private, partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. When the CPD seized control of our national debates, it not only took charge of who gets to debate, but also who sits in the audience, who moderates, and what press is allowed access. Thus today’s sham debates have been engineered to drum up support for the bipartisan corporate agenda, and suppress all traces of alternatives. It’s time for a new non-partisan Commission that transforms these spectacles into real debates that engage and inform voters as the true engine of democracy."
Source: Jill Stein, "Open the Presidential Debates to All Parties," thehill.com, June 2, 2016
[Editor's Note: On Sep. 29, 2015, Jill Stein joined a lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates, accusing the organization of "keeping Americans from hearing anyone but the two old parties in debates" and requesting that all candidates who could potentially secure a majority in the Electoral College be in the debates.]
Pro
"QUESTION… Mr. Trump your reaction to the possibility that the Reform Party candidate may not be allowed in the presidential debates...
[Trump] It's disgraceful. It's amazing that they can get away with it. The Republicans and Democrats are the ones that, as you know, chose the - I guess you have three members of each and they're the ones that chose. If you look at your lobbyists and everyone else, they're all Republicans or Democrats.
And I'll add one additional thing. I watched the Republican debate last night and I'll tell you what: If the right person was debating against whoever the winner of that group is, they'd have a major impact on the election, because that was not a very inspiring group of people that I was watching last night.
So I think they're very concerned. I think they're extremely nervous about it. And I also think that probably the law may be - will be changed in this case, or the rule may be changed in this case, because it's just inconceivable to me that they can allow this to happen."
Source: CNN, "Jesse Ventura, Donald Trump Hold News Conference on Reform Party Presidential Race," cnn.com, Jan. 7, 2000
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None Found
No position found as of June 28, 2016.
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FORMER CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear below in black and white and in alphabetical order.)
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None Found
Withdrew on Feb. 20, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Mar. 4, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Feb. 10, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on May 3, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Feb. 10, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Dec. 21, 2015; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Feb. 1, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on May 4, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Feb. 1, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Feb. 3, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
None Found
Withdrew on Mar. 15, 2016; no additional research done as of that date to determine candidate's position on this question.
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"[A]s a nation, I think we flourish when there are different ideas out there, when there are more differences of opinions.
If you go to Europe, for example, there are many, many political parties. And what happens in this country is sometimes the two party system makes it very, very difficult to get on the ballot. If you are a third party. And I think that that's wrong.
I think we should welcome competition, welcome different ideas. And I think the two parties should be open to making sure that people have a fair shake if they want to run on another party."
Source: NBC News, "Transcript: MSNBC and Telemundo's Clinton-Sanders Town Hall," nbcnews.com, Feb. 18, 2016
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