Jindal Won’t Appear On Prime Time For First Republican Presidential Debate
BATON ROUGE – National polls have not favored Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, which means he won’t appear in the first Republican presidential debate to air on prime time TV Thursday night.
According to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune’s Julia O'Donoghue, Fox News, who is sponsoring the debate, is only including 10 Republican presidential hopefuls with the highest national poll numbers to participate in the televised program.
They include Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
O'Donoghue reports the results of five recent national polls were used to determine who would appear and Jindal’s poll average ranked him 13th.
The Jindal campaign downplayed the exclusion by asserting Jindal is garnering more support in Iowa, O'Donoghue reports, and a higher profile in Iowa will translate into more national recognition.
O'Donoghue reports that in most of the GOP candidate polls taken in 2015 Jindal didn’t make the Top 10.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former HP head Carly Fiorina, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore will join Jindal in an “undercard” debate that Fox is also sponsoring earlier on Thursday.
