December 2020 Debate
Yang Has Qualified for December Debate
December 2019 Debate - Updated December 18, 2019
The 6th debate will occur on December 19, 2019 in Los Angeles California - the strike has apparently be averted!
This debate had been moved from the original planned site because of labor strife at UCLA to Loyola Marymount. Well the food services union had been picketing and all seven candidates lead first by Warren, had said they would not cross the picket line.
The minimum thresholds to qualify increased to four national polls at 4% or two early state polls at 6% and 200,000 unique donors with at least 800 unique donors in 20 states. Seven candidates will appear at the December debate: Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, Yang, Klobuchar and Steyer. That means that compared to the November debate, Gabbard and Booker have been dropped and Harris has withdrawn.
Steyer met the donor requirement and qualified. Yang qualified on December 10 through the Quinnipiac national poll. Gabbard had met the donor requirement, but failed to accomplish the 4th qualifying poll and will miss the debate. Booker had zero qualifying polls although he met the donor requirement and he also will not make the debate. Deadline to meet the polling and donor thresholds was December 12. No other candidate has met the donor threshold or has any qualifying polls.
Broad coverage of the nomination is found at the author's main article.
December Debate Analysis (Updated January 7, 2020)
Candidate
| Pre-Debate Rank
| Post-Debate Rank
|
|---|---|---|
Biden
| 1
| 1
|
Sanders
| 2
| 2
|
Warren
| 3
| 3
|
Buttigieg
| 4
| 4
|
Yang
| 5
| NQ
|
Klobuchar
| 6
| 5
|
Steyer
| 7
| NQ
|
Pre-Debate rank based on polling data through December 10 and non-polling data updated December 15. Post-debate ranks based on polling through January 5 and non-polling updated January 7. NQ = not qualified for January debate.
Effect of December Debate (Updated January 7, 2020)
Thus far the December debate has not influenced the rankings of the candidates. The real question now is whether Yang or Steyer, who both appeared in the December debate will appear in the January debate. The Democratic National Committee decision to increase polling requirements another 1% and the donation threshold another 25,000 people, has left both Yang and Steyer short of the mark. Booker and Gabbard, neither of whom qualified for the December debate who appeared on the November stage are less realistic possibilities than Yang or Steyer. Castro has subsequently withdrawn from the race and endorsed Warren.
