Steyer Asks DNC for Extra Polling Time to Qualify for Next Debate

Democrat presidential hopeful and billionaire Tom Steyer has requested a polling window extension in a letter to Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Tom Perez ahead of the next Democrat presidential debate.

Steyer wrote:

When my campaign received the debate criteria for the next DNC debate in Nevada on January 31st, I was extremely disappointed to see that the Committee has narrowed the polling window significantly. The previous two polling windows have been 56-58 days and this recent period window has been cut to 35 days.

Steyer also noted in his letter that there has not been “a single qualifying poll conducted in Nevada or South Carolina.”:

In that time period, there hasn’t been a single qualifying poll conducted in Nevada or South Carolina. Additionally, a week before the DNC started the window, my campaign met the criteria for the Nevada debate in two Fox news polls that showed my campaign at 15% in South Carolina and 12% in Nevada.

I urge you to expand the window or make sure that there is significant polling in those states prior to the next debate. The voters in Nevada and South Carolina deserve to have their voices heard in this process and to narrow the debate qualifiers without their involvement undercuts the importance of the early states in this election.

According to data from Real Clear Politics, Steyer sits in second place in South Carolina with 18.5 percent support and fourth place in Nevada with ten percent support. Nationally, Steyer sits in ninth place with only two percent support from voters.