(Columbia) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to qualify for next Thursday’s presidential debate in Atlanta, according to host network CNN.
The independent candidate for the American presidential election is notably excluded because he does not obtain enough voting intentions in the polls. The June 27 debate will therefore take place solely between Democratic President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Mr. Kennedy is thus deprived of a unique opportunity to stand alongside the two main candidates in the hope of legitimizing his long-announced candidacy and convincing his potential supporters that he would have a chance of winning in november.
The teams of MM. Biden and Trump fear that Robert Kennedy will muddy the waters in what is expected to be an extremely close presidential election in the United States.
In addition to CNN’s polling criteria, candidates are invited to the debate if they also received a spot on the ballot in states with at least 270 Electoral College votes – the minimum required to win the US presidency .
Mr. Kennedy’s team maintains that the independent candidate has met the requirements to appear on the ballot in 22 states, with a total of 310 electoral votes; but not all of those states have officially confirmed that his name will be on the ballot. California, the largest on the electoral map, with 54 votes, will not “certify” a candidate until August 29.
Candidates also had to obtain at least 15% of voting intentions in four reliable national polls before June 20, another criterion that Mr. Kennedy did not meet, underlines CNN. According to the news channel, the independent candidate has received at least 15 percent in three of those polls so far and is currently on the ballot in six states, which would give him access to just 89 electoral college votes.
CNN said the complaint was baseless. Mr. Kennedy’s campaign team did not immediately respond to a message Thursday seeking comment on the CNN announcement and asking whether he planned to take further action regarding his exclusion.
Last month, MM. Biden and Trump agreed to participate in the CNN debate on June 27 and a second one on September 10 hosted by ABC, bypassing the nonpartisan commission that has organized these debates for nearly four decades in the United States.