Democratic Debate Rules Will Make It Harder to Get Onstage

The Democratic National Committee said on Monday that it would demand a slight increase in the polling and fund-raising thresholds that presidential candidates must meet in order to qualify for the party’s November primary debate, a move that may once again shrink the field of participating candidates.

To be invited to the November debate, candidates must have received donations from at least 165,000 individual donors and must meet one of two polling requirements. They must either receive 3 percent support in four national or early-state polls conducted by qualifying pollsters, or 5 percent support in two polls in the four early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.