Episode One: 15% (Rules for Presidential Debate Access)

“15%” - A look at the controversial Presidential Debate access criteria notorious for keeping third party and independent candidates out the Presidential Debates. In the 2016 election, this criteria has grown in significance as third party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are getting closer to 15% in the national polls.

We pull the curtain back on debate access to examine what it takes to poll 15% nationwide, how this criteria impacts all of us, and whether this is the best way to determine who gets to pitch their platform to be the next President of the United States. We speak with political experts, the authors of this criteria - the Commission on Presidential Debates, and critics who claim that the criteria is intentionally unfair to keep out competitive non-major party candidates.

This is the first in a series on the 2016 election from a non-major party perspective.

CORRECTION NOTES:
- The date of the CPD article should be October 29, 2015 (not 2016).
- Alexandra Shapiro is "Head Councel" not "Head Council"

League of Women Voters

Marist Institute for Public Opinion

Change the Rule

Commission on Presidential Debates

Annenberg Debate Reform

[heychika]

Incredibly well put together and extremely relevant! Keep up the good work!

[grantj]

this is important information for all Americans to be aware of. thanks for making this guys. spread the word.

[aristotlegrumpus]

This is excellent and very timely work. Strongly suggest editing the title (the youtube title, not the video itself) to give a more thorough at-a-glance indication of the subject.

[jamiesimms]

Great episode, guys. Learned so many new things - I had no idea how intricate some of the 'rules' are. Keep it up - look forward to Episode 2!

[danianfocus]

Amazing, I learned a lot from this. Kind of a huge reality check lol. Still, this is the kind of reporting the American people need to know about. Always good to see new channels pop up with this level of proficiency. Looking forward to the next episode!

[Malvisk]

This needs to be seen by more people. Shared it to my facebook feed.

[tommyschroer]

This will hopefully open the eyes of the people to see how truly hard it is to reach 15%. Thank you for putting together such an informative video.

[sickstudios]

Strong work! All of America needs to see this! Thank you, thank you, thank you! When will the 2nd installment land?

[lisaleo]

More Please. #LetGaryDebate, #FairDebates, #OpenDebates and #JillnotHIll

[dustinabc]

It made me laugh when the IAVA Presidential Candidates Forum adopted the same 15% rule, and ignored the fact that Gary Johnson was polling much higher than 15% among vets and active military, whom the IAVA is supposedly representing as an organization.
So much control and power so easily manipulated.

[israelandersonvideo]

Hey guys, great doco. I hope it's ok but I uploaded this to my facebook. I'm sure all you care about is more people seeing this.

[caseyhartman]

Great, informative video. What can we do to ensure polls include all ballot access qualified candidates? Even surveys that ask responders which candidate was supported in a previous presidential election only has options for D, R, and "someone else". I think the CPD should allow candidates who are on ballots in enough states to theoretically obtain 270 electoral votes should be included in the first debate and then add a polling requirement for subsequent ones.

[theyoungcentrist]

Personally, what would help strengthen minor parties in this country to help them get ballot & debate access; would be implementing things like party list PR & multi member districts and all a political party has to do to get a seat in Congress & in the state legislature is by getting around 5% or more to be represented in the legislative branch.

[llewodcm]

You need to normalize / compress the audio.

[justinhoffman]

I have been registered voter since 1989 and I have never been contacted to participate in any poll. Nor do I know any person who has participated in a poll concerning politics or Presidential candidates. I guess my question is who is conducting the polling and how are those polls verified to be fare and impartial. If the question is "If the election was today, who would you vote for; Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson, or Jill Stein?" that is very different than "...who would you vote for; Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or undecided?"
If you are never exposed to the best ideas or the best candidate how would you ever know to vote for them. If you are not given the opportunity to select a non-major candidate, how do they reach the magic 15%?

[SigmaKidd]

I think you should have stressed the fact that the CPD chooses which polls to include. This means polls where a candidate does get more than 15% support do not have to be included in the average.

[danielbrooks]

Why does the article date read 29 October, 2016 at 20:15 on the video?

[artsHscience]

It seems like a great idea at first to have it be a government agency although that would still put it under the control of the two parties or one party that is currently in power. That might be worse if one party is able to seat all the commissioners.
What a sticky mess. Wish the League of Women Voters were back in charge.