Poll: Majority of voters want Johnson on debate stage

The majority of American voters want to see Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson participate in the presidential debates, a new poll released Thursday shows. 

{mosads}The Quinnipiac University poll shows 62 percent of likely voters nationally say Johnson should be included in the debates this year.

Republicans and Democrats feel similarly about the issue, the poll indicates, with 60 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans saying Johnson should be allowed to debate Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

Among independent voters, 69 percent think Johnson should be allowed to participate in the presidential debates. 

As Trump and Clinton experience record low favorability numbers among the electorate, Johnson hopes more voters will flock to third-party candidates and help him claim a spot on the debate stage to increase his national exposure.

But the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates requires candidates to have an average of 15 percent support in five predetermined polls before they can be added to the debate stage.

Those polls this year are the ABC News-Washington Post poll, the CBS-New York Times poll, the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, the CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll and the Fox News poll. 

While the Quinnipiac University poll isn’t considered by the presidential debates commission, Johnson polled 10 percent support in a four-way match-up between him, Trump, Clinton and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. 

Johnson has 8.9 percent support nationally, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.