Federal election law requires that debate sponsors, for candidates for federal office, must have objective criteria when they decide whom to invite. Generally debate sponsors rely on polls.
California’s U.S. Senate race on June 7, 2016, has 34 candidates on the ballot. Broadcast stations and newspapers have sponsored two U.S. Senate debates, on at the University of the Pacific in Stockton on April 25, and one at San Diego State University on May 10. Both debates invited only five particular candidates: Kamala Harris, Loretta Sanchez, Ron Unz, Duf Sundheim, and Tom Del Beccaro. The debate sponsors relied on a poll. However, that poll, the California Poll, only asked about those five particular candidates. Nothing was said to respondents about any of the other candidates.
But, since then, Political Data Incorporated has released a poll that lists all 34 candidates. The results are contained in an article by Paul Mitchell in the May 13, 2016 issue of Political Pulse. The poll was on-line. It is almost impossible to have a poll conducted by telephone that mentions as many as 34 candidates.
The results are shocking, because the top five candidates in the poll that mentioned all the candidates are not the same five candidates who were invited into the media debates. The results: Harris 24.4%; Sanchez 7.1%; Phil Wyman 3.2%; Greg Conlon 2.6%; Unz 2.1%; Sundheim 1.2%; Lightfoot 1.2%; Del Beccaro 1.1%; George Yang 1.0%; Massie Munroe .8%; Karen Roseberry .8%; Tom Palzer .7%; Pamela Elizondo .7%; Von Hougo .6%; Jerry Laws .6%; Herb Peters .4%; Don Krampe .4%; Mark Matthew Herd .4%; Emory Rodgers .3%; Steve Stokes .3%; Clive Gray .3%; Ling Ling Shi .3%; President Cristina Grappo .1%; Jarrell Williamson .1%; Mike Beitiks .1%; Tim Gildersleeve .1%; Jason Hanania .1%; Jason Kraus .1%; Paul Merritt .1%; Gar Myers .1%; John T. Parker .0%; Eleanor Garcia .0%; Don Grundmann .0%; Scott A. Vineberg .0%.
