We’ll know next week who made the stage for the second Democratic primary debate on July 30-31 — July 16 is the deadline for polls that can affect who qualifies — so stay tuned, but in the meantime, here’s an early look at which Democrats are positioned to make the
third debate in September.
At the moment, just five candidates have qualified for the third debate, according to our research, and while it’s early yet (candidates have until late August to improve their donor numbers and gain more support in the polls), the debate’s higher thresholds will probably result in far fewer than 20 candidates making the stage.
To qualify, candidates must have at least 2 percent support in four qualifying national or early-state polls released after the first debate on June 26-27 through two weeks before the third debate on Sept. 12-13
and 130,000 unique donors (including at least 400 individual donors in at least 20 states).[SUP]1
[/SUP] And while those thresholds might not sound that difficult to meet, it’s definitely raising the ante from the first two debates, in which candidates needed to hit only 1 percent support in three qualifying polls
or 65,000 unique donors (including at least 200 individual donors in at least 20 states).
| Candidate | Qualified | Polls | Donors | POLLS | Donors |
|---|
| Joe Biden | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 6 | >130k |
| Pete Buttigieg | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 6 | >130 |
| Kamala Harris | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 6 | >130 |
| Bernie Sanders | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 6 | >130 |
| Elizabeth Warren | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 6 | >130 |
