Should Gary Johnson Be in the Debates?

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson will be on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, but might not make the debate stage. The Commission on Presidential Debates requires candidates to average at least 15 percent across five selected national polls in order to qualify. Johnson, the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, has not yet achieved this goal, and the first presidential debate is set to take place on Sept. 26.

Nevertheless, Johnson contests that he deserves a podium along with Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. He and his running mate Bill Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, maintain that their campaign based on fiscally conservative and socially liberal policies offers an important third-party alternative in a particularly polarizing election. Indeed, polling shows that voters want to hear Johnson debate.

"Given the political climate of this year's presidential election, Americans are looking for a new and different alternative to the very unpopular Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton candidacies. This is a key reason why I should be permitted on that debate stage with Trump and Clinton: The nation needs to know that there is a credible alternative on the ballot in all 50 states to the polarizing nominees this year from the Republican and Democrat parties," Johnson wrote Thursday in U.S. News & World Report.

Johnson has seen his shares of ups and downs during his 2016 run. During a recent appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," he faced criticism for not being able to identify the Syrian city of Aleppo. However, the New Hampshire Union-Leader broke with its 100-year old tradition of endorsing Republican nominees by endorsing Johnson on Thursday. Making the first debate would be Libertarian's biggest achievement to date.

So, should Gary Johnson be included in the presidential debates? Here's the Debate Club's take: