Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said Friday he was concerned that pollsters are leaving him out of surveys — making it harder for him to participate in the first GOP debate.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) requires candidates to meet specific donor and polling thresholds.
Suarez met the donor threshold, which requires a minimum of 40,000 unique donors, including 200 in 20 or more states each.
But to qualify for the debate, Republican contenders also need to be at a minimum of 1 percent in three national polls, or a minimum of 1 percent in two national polls and 1 percent in two early state polls from two states — criteria he has not yet met.
“I do, obviously, because it’s hard to make it a polling threshold if you’re not included in the poll,” he said, in response to a question by The Hill over whether he had concerns he was not being included in surveys.
“So I do have concerns about that. I’ve always abided by the threshold. I’ve been very supportive of minimum thresholds because I do think that time is valuable. But I also it think has to be a fair process,” he added.
Eight candidates have met the RNC criteria to make the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee.
Former President Trump has met the debate criteria, but he said this week he won’t sign a pledge required by the RNC that he’ll back the eventual GOP nominee. It’s not clear yet if he’ll participate in Milwaukee.