Who's going to qualify for the Democratic debates?

[The Ex-Factor]

Polling Method: Register 1% or more support in three polls (which may be national polls, or polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and/or Nevada) publicly released between January 1, 2019, and 14 days prior to the date of the Organization Debate.  Qualifying polls will be limited to those sponsored by one or more of the following organizations/institutions:Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Des Moines Register, Fox News, Las Vegas Review Journal, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), Quinnipiac University, Reuters, University of New Hampshire, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Winthrop University.  

Is there a way to be able to categorize polls so that we know whether they count or not for the Democratic debate? I keep looking at threads in the primary polls forum and trying to remember if they count towards debate qualification or not, and gotta double-check this thread everytime.

[The Ex-Factor]

Here are the official rules:

Each poll must be sponsored by an approved organization, which presently includes the following: Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Des Moines Register, Fox News, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), Quinnipiac University, University of New Hampshire, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and Winthrop University. Any candidate’s four qualifying polls must be conducted by different organizations, or if by the same organization, must be in different geographical areas.  The DNC and its media partners reserve the right to add a Nevada-specific poll sponsor to this list in the near future.

https://democrats.org/press/third-debate/

I would say that would constitute two different organizations, but there's enough ambiguity that the DNC could say no it doesn't count. I mean I woulda thought Bullock had a stronger claim to being invited to the first debate than Swalwell as well 🤷 so you can never be sure about these things.

[The Ex-Factor]

If Gabbard gets four polls, it probably means two nights of debates.

People will complain that the top 4 candidates aren't on the same stage again.

Then again, people will also complain if it's a 10 person stage. And people will complain if it's only the top 5 candidates and the rest get locked out. So whatever.

[The Ex-Factor]

I think they should go back to the 2016 Republican model of having a 10-person debate based on polling + kiddie table for the next cycle. It's more objective, clear-cut criteria from the start. This format where they keep unpredictably changing the criteria every month or two just comes across badly.