--- title: CNBC to Institute 3% Polling Rule for Next GOP Debate description: Chris Christie, Rand Paul, and Mike Huckabee might not make it onstage. canonical: https://time.com/4056661/cnbc-gop-debate-huckabee-christie-paul/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-30T22:12:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:24:56.764Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Who Might Be Missing From the Next GOP Debate og:description: CNBC is requiring candidates to poll an average of 3% nationally to be onstage. og:url: https://time.com/4056661/cnbc-gop-debate-huckabee-christie-paul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Who Might Be Missing From the Next GOP Debate twitter:description: CNBC is requiring candidates to poll an average of 3% nationally to be onstage. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Who Might Be Missing at the Next GOP Debate  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 30, 2015 10:12 PM UTC  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 30, 2015 10:12 PM UTC If the stage has seemed crowded in the past couple GOP debates, get ready for a little breathing room: CNBC announced on Wednesday that candidates must be polling at least an average of 3% in national polls to be onstage. And while that means more time and focus on frontrunners, low-polling presidential hopefuls like Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie are going to need to amp up their game to score a spot with the top contenders. Otherwise, they’ll be relegated to the pre-primetime, undercard debate. CNBC’s 3% rule differs from the past Republican debates of the year, which have collected top performing candidates onstage, even if they couldn’t clear 3%. [CNN reports](http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/30/media/cnbc-republican-debate/) that the fact that CNBC is even hosting an undercard debate is surprising, given that Republican National Committee officials had stated that the last GOP debate on September 16 would be the last to have one. The RNC, however, was pleased with the new rules.”CNBC’s efforts to ensure that all of our top candidates will have an opportunity to share their views with the American people,” RNC Chariman Reince Priebus told CNN. The CNBC debate, which takes place on October 28, will be hosted by _Squawk on the Street_‘s Carl Quintanilla; Becky Quick, who co-hosts _Squawk Alley_ with Quintanilla; and the network’s Washington correspondent, John Harwood. The theme will be “Your Money, Your Vote,” with questions focusing on the economy, taxes, and retirement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4056661/cnbc-gop-debate-huckabee-christie-paul/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4056661/cnbc-gop-debate-huckabee-christie-paul/"},"headline":"Here's Who Might Be Missing at the Next GOP Debate","datePublished":"2015-09-30T22:12:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:24:56.764Z","description":"They might be relegated to the undercard debate","url":"https://time.com/4056661/cnbc-gop-debate-huckabee-christie-paul/","keywords":["2016 Election","republicans","2016 Election topic","Chris Christie","Rand Paul","GOP","debate","mike huckabee","CNBC","GOP Debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4056661/cnbc-gop-debate-huckabee-christie-paul/","name":"Here's Who Might Be Missing at the Next GOP Debate"}}]}] ```