2 weeks from 2nd presidential debate, Burgum struggles to hit 3% in national poll

FARGO — With two weeks until the second nationally televised Republican presidential debate, it’s still unclear if

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum

will qualify for the stage.

Burgum, whose level of national recognition would benefit from a second appearance before an audience of millions, still hasn’t met the polling requirements to take the stage with other candidates Wednesday, Sept. 27, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Despite his campaign’s failure to hit the 3% mark in a national poll, a requirement of the Republican National Committee, Burgum

said in a Monday Fox News appearance

he is still confident he’ll qualify.

“We’re gonna make the debate stage,” Burgum told Fox News host Trace Gallagher. “We had one poll we’re at 4% nationally, it fell 50 respondents short — that’s 750 respondents versus the 800 required by the RNC, but we’re planning on being there.”

Time is running out. The governor has until Sept. 25 to hit 3% support in a national poll, and he’s yet to register above 1% in any recent survey.

Still, there is some good news for Burgum: he’s already met the RNC’s other polling and donor requirements. The campaign says he reached 50,000 individual donors, with at least 200 in 20 different states or territories.

He’s also hit one-half of the RNC’s overall polling requirement. Debate rules say candidates must reach 3% in two national polls, or 3% in one national poll and two polls from early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Burgum has reached 6% support in New Hampshire and 3% in Iowa. He’s run millions of dollars in ads in both states over the past few months, partly thanks to his large personal wealth.

Burgum contributed more than $10 million to his own campaign, according to the most recently available campaign finance disclosures. He’s by far the largest donor to his own campaign.

Money also helped him meet the donor requirements. Burgum, who still does not have the same name recognition as other GOP presidential candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, surprised many this summer when he used a ploy to meet the first debate’s donor threshold.

In July,

his campaign offered $20 Mastercard and Visa gift cards

in exchange for $1 donations, quickly allowing him to hit the 40,000 individual donor threshold to make the August debate in Milwaukee. The campaign also had no trouble hitting the 50,000 donor mark required for the second debate.

Meanwhile, an independent group backing Burgum’s presidential campaign disclosed about $6 million in national ad buys following the Aug. 23 debate. It’s disclosed $13 million in spending so far, but it has done little to move the needle in polls.

If that money and campaigning do work, what happens if the governor makes the second debate?

His first debate performance failed to deliver him a much-hoped-for national poll bump that would have made qualifying for the second debate much easier. Clashes between higher-profile candidates drowned Burgum out, who stuck mostly to policy-focused answers and campaign talking points.

Burgum has said looking to generate soundbites or going after his rivals is not what he thinks Americans want to hear. However, in a recent PBS interview,

he said he plans to be more assertive

should he qualify for the next debate.

As of Tuesday, six candidates have qualified for the second debate, which is airing on Fox Business. They include DeSantis, Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

All six participated in the first debate, leaving Burgum and former Alabama Gov. Asa Hutchinson to qualify.

Notably absent from the first debate was former President Donald Trump, who is by far the GOP race frontrunner with more than 50% of GOP voters’ support. He refused to sign a pledge to honor the Republican presidential nominee, another requirement for debate participation.

His campaign mocked the debate as “tryouts” for vice president.