Debates, often a staple of primary season ahead of U.S. presidential elections, have been dealt a blow. This week, both ABC and CNN announced they would cancel events due to lack of participation.
“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement. “As a result, while our robust election coverage will continue, ABC News and WMUR-TV will not be moving forward with Thursday’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire.”
According to the Washington Post, CNN confirmed Wednesday in an email that it would no longer host a Republican debate Sunday at New England College ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Only one qualified candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accepted the network’s offer to appear onstage.
ABC reported that the other two candidates vying to be the Republican candidate – former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley – didn’t respond to invitations to participate in its debate.
Trump started the trend of skipping debates during his latest campaign. Audacy reported in August that it was possible he wouldn’t be showing up at many debates after he revealed that he wouldn’t sign a required pledge from the Republican National Committee asking participants to support the eventual nominee.
After he missed the first debate, Trump’s poll numbers dipped slightly. DeSantis has criticized the former president for skipping the events, and Trump has declared himself the winner of debates he didn’t go to.
It might seem counterintuitive, but Trump has managed to keep a massive lead over the other GOP hopefuls even as he ditches debates and as he faces a landslide of legal issues that could potentially land him in jail or prevent him from running altogether. As of Wednesday, Trump had held on to support from 63% of GOP voters nationally while Haley and DeSantis each had around 12%, according to FiveThiryEight.
Trump also won the Iowa Caucus, while DeSantis followed in a distant second. Although Haley is polling closer to Trump in New Hampshire, NBC News reported Wednesday that GOP voters were disappointed after the Iowa Caucus that she wasn’t fighting harder for the nomination. Haley said Tuesday that she would debate only Trump or President Joe Biden, per ABC.
With candidates dropping out of debates, Audacy reached out to debate expert Aaron Kall of the University of Michigan to see if they are becoming an “endangered species.” DeSantis, however, had a different view of Haley’s choice to drop out.
“Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina,” he said in an X post. “The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to be Trump’s VP. I won’t snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments. I look forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week.”