Democratic presidential hopeful Julián Castro hit 2% support in a poll released Tuesday on the 2020 field, likely securing him a spot on the next debate stage in September.
Mr. Castro, a former housing secretary under President Barack Obama, was at 2% support in the CNN poll — the fourth qualifying poll where he’s been at 2% or better.
Candidates need to hit 2% support in four qualifying polls and secure contributions from 130,000 individual donors across 20 states in order to qualify for the next debate. Mr. Castro had already met the donor requirement.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who has crossed the 130,000 donor threshold, was also at 2% support in the CNN poll. She now needs two more polls where she hits 2% or better to make it onto the debate stage next month.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s campaign announced Monday that he had crossed the 130,000 donor threshold, but he has not yet hit 2% support in any of the qualifying polls. He was at 0% in the CNN poll.
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who has also hit the donor threshold and needs one more poll to qualify for the debate, was at 1% support in the CNN poll.
The qualifying polls have to be released between June 28 and Aug. 28.
Before Tuesday, nine other candidates appeared to have qualified: former Vice President Joseph R. Biden; Sen. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana; Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas; Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
In the new poll, Mr. Biden led the 2020 Democratic field at 29% support, and was followed by Mr. Sanders at 15% and Ms. Warren at 14%.
Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Harris were next at 5% apiece, and Mr. O’Rourke was at 3%.
Mr. Booker was at 2%, along with Mr. Castro and Ms. Gabbard.
The survey of 402 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents was taken from Aug. 15-18 and has a margin of error of 6.1 points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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