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Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed Thursday to meet the qualifications to join Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump at the first of two 2024 presidential debates set for June 27 on CNN.
Under qualifying terms for the 90-minute debate on the news channel, Kennedy needed to earn at least 15% support in four approved national polls, but he only hit that mark in three polls.
In addition, Kennedy, an environmental activist and COVID-19 vaccination opponent, also needed to be officially on the ballot in enough states to show that he could theoretically win 270 votes in the Electoral College, the minimum to win the presidency. But currently, Kennedy has only qualified to be on the ballot in six states with 89 Electoral College votes.
National state-by-state polling has shown that Kennedy, if he's on the ballot with both Biden and Trump, and possibly other challengers, would draw some support from both Biden and Trump, often to different degrees depending on the state.
Traditionally, the first of the presidential debates every four years draws the largest television audience. More than 73 million tuned in for the first of two Biden-Trump encounters in 2020. As such, Kennedy had hoped to introduce himself to more voters and offer a contrast to the two established candidates.
After being excluded, he complained in a statement, "Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their demand. My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly."
"Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly," Kennedy said. "They want a president who will heal the divide, restore the middle class, unwind the war machine, and end the chronic disease epidemic."
No third-party or independent presidential candidate has been on the national presidential debate stage since 1992, when Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who was self-funding his campaign, gained enough support to appear alongside President George H.W. Bush and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in three debates in the final weeks before the election that Clinton won.
Biden and Trump have agreed to a second debate against each other; it is set for ABC on Sept. 10, roughly two months ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.