Republican presidential candidates who don’t make the cut for one of the 10 spots in the GOP’s first debate in Cleveland on Aug. 6 will be invited to participate in an earlier forum, according to
Politico, which reports that debate sponsor Fox News has trimmed the "second-tier" event to one-hour and switched it to later in the day.
Fox’s decision to move the second-tier debate from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. nearly doubles the viewing audience for those candidates and allows the cable network to "transition directly from the forum into its pre-debate coverage," according to Politico. The length of time has been cut from 90 minutes to one hour.
"The decision to shorten the forum to one hour will be less celebrated by candidates who already feel spurned by the network's cap," Politico reports. "However, the forum is likely to include about half as many participants as the prime-time debate, providing each candidate with roughly equal time."
The candidates currently relegated to second-tier status include former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki, though the standings are fluid.
The Fox News criterion for candidates to snare one of the 10 prime-time debate spots is an average of the five most recent national polls, as recognized by the network, leading up to the debate.
According to poll aggregation website
fivethirtyeight.com, Fox News has said that ties could result in more than 10 candidates being included.
On Monday,
The Washington Post reported that current polling data puts real estate mogul Donald Trump in the lead, with the support of 24 percent of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, followed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 13 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 12 percent.
Rounding out the top 10, ranging in support from 8 percent to 3 percent, according to the Post, are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
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