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Eight Republican presidential candidates are one step closer to making the party's first primary debate in August, after registering 1% or above in a new national poll.
A Morning Consult poll released Tuesday will count as a Republican National Committee-approved survey to help determine who will participate in the first GOP presidential primary debate, according to a person familiar with the debate criteria.
Candidates must hit at least 1% support in three national polls or at least 1% in two national polls and one early state poll to qualify for the first debate. They must also meet a donor requirement and pledge to support the GOP nominee in order to participate in the first debate, which is set for Aug. 23.
The poll reflected other recent national surveys with former President Donald Trump leading the field. In this poll he had support from 56% of those surveyed, followed by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis at 17%.
That survey found six other candidates hit the 1% threshold or higher, including businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (8%); former Vice President Mike Pence (7%); former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley (3%); South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (3%); former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (3%); and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (1%).
Three other GOP presidential hopefuls — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and former Texas GOP Rep. Will Hurd — all registered at 0% in the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The online survey appears to be one of the first of the GOP field that meets the RNC's polling requirements, depending on how the committee treats other, earlier surveys from Morning Consult. The RNC's criteria stipulate that qualifying polls must be conducted after July 1 and survey at least 800 registered likely Republican voters “through a mix of live calls, integrated voice response, online panels, and/or text message.” Most surveys do not have sample sizes that large.
Morning Consult's national online survey, which was conducted from July 7-9, surveyed 3,616 "potential Republican primary voters" which includes registered voters who said they would vote in a GOP primary or caucus in 2024.
Morning Consult's tracking poll is continually surveying voters, with weekly releases of the results. It is not clear if the RNC considers each new release of data a separate survey.
