RFK Jr. fails to meet requirements for first presidential debate, CNN says

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not qualified for the first debate of the election cycle, CNN said Thursday.

In order to qualify for the CNN-hosted debate, candidates are required to receive at least 15% support in four separate national polls. Candidates must also be on the ballot in enough states to make it hypothetically possible to collect the 270 electoral college votes necessary to win the election.

Kennedy — the highest-performing 2024 candidate outside the Republican and Democratic parties — failed to meet the criteria by the Thursday morning deadline, the network said. A CNN spokesperson independently confirmed to Fox News that RFK Jr. did not qualify

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The independent candidate was only able to produce the necessary 15% support figure in three separate national polls, according to a news release by CNN.

The network also reported that Kennedy hadn't qualified for the ballot in enough states to meet the 270 possible electoral college votes threshold.

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Kennedy has sharply criticized CNN's standards for the debate, claiming the requirements for entry were arbitrarily enforced against him in order to maintain a one-on-one debate format.

The Trump campaign