Which candidates will be at the third Republican debate?

On Wednesday, 8 November, live from Miami, Florida, a smaller group of Republican presidential candidates will take to the debate stage to try and make their case to their party’s voters. Once again, Donald Trump, the candidate leading the race by double digits, will not appear, and his absence is likely to be attacked by those who do show up. Since the last debate, former Vice President Mike Pence has dropped out of the race after failing to get his campaign off the ground.

What a candidate needs to qualify for the debate

To qualify for the third and final debate before the primaries, a candidate must meet three requirements. When it comes to polling, the magic number is four percent. A candidate has to have reached four percent in two national polls or one national poll and an additional state-level poll in one of the four states that will host their primary first (Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina, and Michigan). With regard to campaign donations, the candidate must have at least 70,000 individual donors. Lastly, to appear on the debate stage, the candidate must sign a pledge to promise their support to the candidate who wins the Republican primary.

Senator Tim Scott could lack support in the polls, but there is still time for him to qualify.

Will Donald Trump attend the debate?

Donald Trump is the only candidate who has yet to sign the pledge, and his campaign has called on the Republican National Committee to cancel the remaining debates. Because of his unwillingness to sign the pledge and his rejection of holding debates altogether, Trump is unlikely to make it to the third debate. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that Trump has more support from Republican voters than all other candidates in the race combined.