Hillary Clinton trails Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson among independents

Democrat Hillary Clinton is losing to Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson among independent voters — now the largest subset of the voting population — according to a new Fox News poll released Thursday.

While Republican Donald Trump leads the category with 32 percent support, Johnson narrowly edges out Clinton with 23 percent to her 22 percent. The poll has a 3 percent margin of error.

Polling is particularly important for Johnson in the run-up to the general election debates, as his shot at participation depends on the numbers. A third-party candidate must demonstrate 15 percent national support to be permitted on the debate stage, a qualification that is incredibly difficult to achieve before appearing in the debates.

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However, the co-chairs of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is run by the Republican and Democratic National Committees, remarked in January that they would not be surprised if a third-party candidate cleared that hurdle this year. Johnson hit 12 percent support nationally in the Fox survey.