Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and Republican presidential candidate, might be stuck in the “kids’ table” debate again–despite ranking as high as 4th place in nationwide polls.
CNN, who hosts the next debate, will (like Fox) only invite the top 10 candidates to debate on the top stage.
But, while Fox used just the five most recent polls, CNN plans to use all polls between July 16 and September 10–many of which include numbers from before Fiorina stunned the country by handily winning the first round of debates on August 6.
Using such a wide swath of polls would adversely affect Fiorina, who barely registered in the polls before her impressive debate performance, but has since seen a huge bounce.
It would also help to bolster underperforming candidates like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and even Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who all started with stronger poll numbers but have since seen their support dip substantially in the months and weeks since they launched their presidential campaign.
In the debates on August 6, broadcasted on Fox News, Fiorina was widely seen as the winner–not just of the 5pm debate, which she was featured in, but of both debates.
Fiorina is also the sole woman running for the Republican nomination–a point that she claims will help her better attack the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Regardless of Fiorina’s gender or poll numbers, the fact remains that more than 83% of Americans declared her the winner of the first Republican debate–but, because of the measurement of polls, she might be prevented from debating once again.
