Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson are among the names who may miss the cut for the next G.O.P. Debate Low poll numbers could keep the long-shot Republicans off the stage next Wednesday in the second presidential debate. Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum. The second Presidential debate, which will happen next week, has a higher ceiling than for the first, which was held in August. Photographs by KC McGinnis/The New York Times/Kenny Holston/The New York Times
After eking their way into the first Republican presidential debate in November, Governor Hillary Clinton made it clear that she would be running against Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and former Arkansas governor, who was born in Arkansas, is widely seen as a political figure. Asa Hutchinson, a long-shot candidate, appears to be in jeopardy of failing to qualify for the party's second presidential debate next week. Both have been registering support in the low single digits in national polls and in the polls from early nominating states that the Republican National Committee uses to determine eligibility. The threshold is higher for this presidential debate, which will take place on Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. rivals were expected to make the cut - but the candidate, possibly best known, former President Donald J. Trump, is again planning to skip the debate. Donald Trump, who remains the frontrunner for the party's nomination despite a maelstrom of indictments against him, will instead give a speech to striking union autoworkers in Michigan. Some of Donald Trump's harshest critics in the G.O.P. have criticized him harshly. Republicans have heightened calls for the party's bottom-tier candidates to leave the crowded race, consolidating support for a more viable alternative to the former president. Lance Trover, a spokesman for theburgum campaign, maintained in an email that Mr. Burgum was still positioned to qualify for the debate. Hutchinson's campaign did not immediately respond to calls for comment. Emma Vaughn, a campaign spokeswoman for the R.N.C., said that candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to qualify. She declined to comment further on which ones had already done so. Fox Business has announced that it will raise its polling and funding limits to qualify for the second presidential debate, which will be televised by Fox Business. The presidential candidates must now register at least three percent support in a minimum of two national polls accepted by the R.N.C. The first presidential debate was due to start at a minimum of 1 percent. Debate organizers will also recognize a combination of one national poll and polls from at least two of the following early nominating states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. In a statement, Trover said, Burgum's campaign has a plan to give him a boost just before the debate, targeting certain Republicans and conservative-leaning independents through video text messages. Ron DeSantis of Florida, running a distant second in Republican polls, has used a similar text messaging strategy. Burgum, a former software executive, is also using his wealth to introduce himself to Republicans through television, and at considerable expense. Since the first debate, a super PAC aligned with him hasbooked about $8 million in national broadcast, live sports and radio advertising, including a $2 million infusion last week. His TV ads appeared on ESPN during Monday Night Football. There were six Republicans who appeared to be meeting the national polling requirement, according to FiveThirtyEight, a polling aggregation site. Trump leads the list by an average of more than 40 percentage points, putting him ahead of DeSantis. The list also includes the multimillionaire businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, formerVP Mike Pence, and former Governor Mike Pence. While Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina was averaging only 2.4 percent support nationally as of Wednesday, he is also expected to make the debate stage by relying on a combination of national and early nominating state polls to qualify. Scott has performed well in places like Iowa and his home state than in national polls, and his campaign has pressed the R.N.C. to place more emphasis on early nominating states. It lifted its fund-raising benchmarks for the second presidential debate. Only those who received 50,000 donations will make the debate stage - 10,000 more than they needed for the first debate. They also must have at least 200 donations in 20 or more states or territories. While Mr. Burgum's campaign said it had reached the funding-raising milestone, it was not immediately clear whether Mr. Hutchinson had. The candidates resorted to several unusual tactics to qualify for the first presidential debate. Burgum offered $20 gift cards to anyone who gave at least $1 to his campaign, while Politico reported that Mr. Hutchinson had paid college students for each person they could persuade to contribute to his campaign. In addition to signing a loyalty pledge, candidates must still sign a loyalty pledge promising to support the eventual Republican nominee, something Trump refused to do before skipping the first presidential debate.