Fact check: Are the presidential debates rigged in favor of major party candidates?

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• ABOUT FACT CHECK

Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford in their first presidential debate, September 23, 1976.
(White House photograph, courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library)

August 18, 2016
By Paul Brennan
Updated June 25, 2021

In an August 12, 2016, editorial, The Charlotte Observer called for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson to be included in the upcoming presidential debates in order to provide voters with an alternative to the two major party candidates. That seems unlikely to happen under the rules established by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), as the Observer acknowledged in its editorial, which was titled, “The election isn’t rigged, but the presidential debates seem to be.”

To be included in the 2016 debates, candidates must be constitutionally eligible to become president and their names must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College. They also must be supported by 15 percent of the electorate, as determined by the average of five national public opinion polls selected by the CPD. Johnson is currently slightly below 10 percent in the polls the CPD is using this year.

Is the Observer’s characterization of the presidential debates accurate?

Ballotpedia examined the history of presidential debates both prior to and since 1988, the year the CPD took control. The CPD is a private, nonprofit organization created in 1987 by the Democratic and Republican parties to stage general election debates. No independent or third-party candidate has met the standards the CPD adopted in 2000 for inclusion in the debates. No third-party or independent candidate since the first presidential debate 56 years ago would have met those standards, either.

Presidential debates and the CPD

The first debates between presidential candidates in a general election were held in 1960, when Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon had four televised debates. Those debates were sponsored by the three television networks then in operation—CBS, NBC, and ABC.

The next general election debates occurred in 1976, when Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter debated Republican incumbent President Gerald Ford. Those debates were organized and sponsored by the League of Women Voters (LWV), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that describes its purpose as “encourag[ing] informed and active participation in government.”

The LWV continued to organize and sponsor the debates in 1980 and 1984. In both years, the campaigns of the major party candidates objected to certain decisions by the LWV.

In 1980, the LWV included independent candidate John Anderson in the first of its two debates. President Jimmy Carter, who was running for re-election, objected to Anderson’s inclusion and refused to participate in the first debate, which went on with Anderson and the Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan.

In 1984, the campaigns of President Ronald Reagan and Democratic challenger Walter Mondale objected to many of the LWV’s proposed panelists. Between them, the campaigns rejected almost 100 names.

On February 18, 1987, Paul Kirk, the national chairman of the Democratic Party, and Frank Fahrenkopf, the national chairman of the Republican Party, held a joint press conference to announce the creation of the CPD. They announced that beginning with the 1988 presidential campaign, candidates from their parties would only participate in general election debates organized by the new commission. The CPD’s board of directors were selected by the two parties, with Kirk and Fahrenkopf serving as co-chairmen.

Nancy Neuman, president of the LWV, criticized the parties for assuming control of the debates, noting that unlike the LWV, the two parties had self-interested motives for excluding third-party candidates. “I think they're trying to steal the debates from the American voters,” she said.

At their news conference, both Kirk and Fahrenkopf acknowledged that third-party candidates were unlikely to be included in CPD-sponsored debates. Neither considered this an important problem. “'The extremely competitive nature of the two parties will ensure that we will reach the best possible agreement for all concerned, most importantly for the voters of this nation,” Fahrenkopf said.

Fahrenkopf is still co-chairman of the CPD. Mike McCurry, who served as press secretary for President Bill Clinton, succeeded Paul Kirk as co-chairman in 2009.

The 15 percent rule

In 1992, the CPD allowed Reform Party candidate Ross Perot to participate in all three presidential debates, even though his candidacy had never received support from more than 7 percent of respondents in public opinion surveys prior to the debates. At the time, the CPD did not have a rule automatically excluding a candidate for low poll numbers.

However, the CPD refused to allow Perot to participate in the 1996 debates, despite the fact that he won 19 percent of the popular vote in the 1992 election. This decision was widely criticized. Washington Post political columnist David Broder accused the CPD of “playing games” with the selection process and wrote that “the commission overreached in protecting the major-party nominees” by excluding Perot. In an editorial, The New York Times stated that “by deciding yesterday to exclude Ross Perot from this year’s debates, the commission proved itself to be a tool of the two dominant parties rather than a guardian of the public interest.”

Subsequently, the CPD adopted new eligibility criteria for debate participants. In 2000, the CPD established three standards:

• Candidates must meet the constitutional requirements to be president.
• Candidates must be on the ballot in enough states to be able to win the 270 electoral votes necessary to be elected president.
• Candidates must be supported by 15 percent of the electorate, as determined by the average of five national public opinion polls conducted by organizations selected by the CPD.

Five third-party candidates in the 2000 election met the first two requirements, but none met the 15 percent requirement. No third-party or independent candidate since the advent of presidential debates in 1960 has met the polling threshold.

Conclusion

Last week, The Charlotte Observer published an editorial claiming that the presidential debates seem "rigged” under the control of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Ballotpedia examined the history of the debates and determined that the Observer is correct. The CPD was created by the two parties in 1987, and its eligibility criteria for the debates includes a polling threshold that no independent or third-party candidate has met in the 56 years since the first presidential debate.

Launched in October 2015 and active through October 2018, Fact Check by Ballotpedia examined claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluated claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. As of 2025, Ballotpedia staff periodically review these articles to revaluate and reaffirm our conclusions. Please email us with questions, comments, or concerns about these articles. To learn more about fact-checking, click here.

Sources and Notes

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