Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer hit 18% support in a CBS/YouGov poll on South Carolina released on Sunday, which appears to be enough to put him back on the presidential debate stage on Tuesday in Charleston.
To qualify for the Democratic National Committee’s South Carolina debate, candidates need to hit at least 10% support in four national or South Carolina polls, or 12% or more in two South Carolina polls.
Mr. Steyer was at 15% support in South Carolina in a recent Winthrop University poll.
He would be the seventh candidate to qualify for the debate, along with former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
If candidates don’t hit the polling threshold, they can also make the debate stage by being allocated at least one pledged delegate from Iowa, New Hampshire, or Nevada.
The “delegate threshold” is how Ms. Klobuchar qualified.
The South Carolina debate, the tenth of the 2020 cycle for the Democrats, is the second one that doesn’t have a fundraising metric as one of the qualification criteria.
Critics have said that recent change from the Democratic National Committee was intended to help Mr. Bloomberg, who is refusing donations. The DNC has denied the change was made with an eye toward any particular candidate.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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