The main stage for the next Republican presidential debate on Jan. 14 could have as few as six candidates, according to requirements outlined by the sponsoring network, Fox Business Network.
“The prime-time debate will feature candidates that place in the top six nationally, and place within the top five in Iowa or New Hampshire,” Fox Business Network said.
Candidates who fail to meet those overlapping requirements “will be invited to the early debate,” it added.
The Jan. 14 event will be held in North Charleston, S.C.
Fox Business Network said it will factor in national, Iowa, and New Hampshire polls released before Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. ET.
Politico noted that, as it stands now, the criteria would relegate three past prime time performers — Ohio Gov. John Kasich, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — to the preliminary debate:
“According to POLITICO calculations based on only the national polling available as of Tuesday, the prime-time debate stage would include Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurologist Ben Carson, former Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Chris Christie.
“According to polling released as of Tuesday, the undercard debate stage would include Sen. Paul, Gov. Kasich, Fiorina, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Sen. Rick Santorum and former Gov. George Pataki.”
The formal criteria, as released by Fox Business Network:
“In order to qualify for the prime time debate, candidates must either:
- Place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News.
OR
- Place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls recognized by FOX News.
OR
- Place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls recognized by FOX News.
- Such polling must be conducted by major nationally and state recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques (i.e., live interviewers, random digit-dial sampling techniques and include both landlines and cell phones)."
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