Today, Tulsi gained her 3rd qualifying poll from a national USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
In this *National* poll, Tulsi scored 4%, topping Kamala Harris (3%), Yang (3%), Booker (2%), Klobuchar (2%), Steyer (1%), O'Rourke (0%), Castro (0%), and Bennet (0%). This poll also counts towards her December poll requirement.
The DNC announced the criteria for their December debate: 200,000 unique donors and 4% or more in 4 qualified polls from the four early states or nationally. That's the general gist at least.
Right now only 7 candidates have met those numbers. Tulsi, of course, is still trying to meet the criteria for the November debates.
A new Post and Courier Poll in South Carolina has Tulsi at 3% in that state for the first time. To the best of my knowledge, this is a non-qualifying poll.
Tulsi has long struggled in southern states, so I guess her blast at Clinton perked some people up down there!
This poll was conducted after the 4th debate, but before the Hillary Clinton blast:
USA Today/Suffolk Poll of Iowa
She exactly tied with Harris and Klobaucher and was ahead of O'Rourke and Yang.
Interesting note that there will be no opening statements at Tuesday's debate:
Tulsi Says No Opening Statements
Since there will be 12 candidates on stage, this is sure to cut back on speaking time for candidates like Tulsi or Yang. They will be much more at the whim of the moderators to have any time to make a point.
Change Research came out with a poll in Wisconsin taken Sept. 27-Oct. 2, which was buried as quickly as possible. It was a poll of 1,002 Democratic primary-voting people. The basic gist is:
Warren: 23%
Sanders: 17%
Biden: 9%
Gabbard: 6%
Buttigieg: 5%
Yang: 4%
Harris: 2%
Some extra tidbits have been becoming clear regarding Tulsi's planned healthcare initiative.
The first is that she intends to call it Single Payer Plus to differentiate it from Medicare for All, which she feels is being co-opted by a number of campaigns. She started to use the term a couple days ago while campaigning in Charleston, South Carolina (forward to 29 minutes or so):
According to a poster on Reddit, the Tulsi campaign came out with a statement around the Medicare for All questions that have been circulating. The quote seems partial and I can't find the original source (hasn't come through campaign emails or on their website). If someone can find the original, that'd be good confirmation.
But at any rate, here is the quote:
The Monmouth New Hampshire poll came in today, and Tulsi got a high 2% in that qualifying poll.
This secures a spot in the October debates. Steyer has as well, meaning that 12 candidates will be in the debates. It is unknown whether they will split up the candidates over 2 days or have them all in 1 day at this point.
Pretty freakin' cool.
Tomorrow, Monmouth will release their latest New Hampshire Poll. They have not conducted one in the state since May, but this is Tulsi's strongest state, and besides a CBS/YouGov poll where she polled at only 1%, there have been 5 other (non-qualifying) polls in the state since the beginning of August where she has polled at 3% to 6%.
If this Monmouth poll has her at 2% or more, Tulsi makes the October debate.
