Bernie Sanders says it 'probably' should be easier to include third-party candidates in debates

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Bernie Sanders
(Image credit: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

The 15 percent national poll average required to include third-party candidates in presidential debates is "probably too high," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

"It should be lower than that," said the former Democratic candidate, for third-party contenders who "reach a certain level" — though he brushed aside any chance of a third-party win. "Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is going to become president of the United States," Sanders said, "and there is no question in my mind that Hillary Clinton is far, far, far and away the superior candidate."

Watch Sanders' comments below, via NBC. Bonnie Kristian

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Bonnie Kristian
Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.