Poll: Trump 21, Bush 10, Walker 8

Fox News, the host of Thursday’s debate in Cleveland, plans to allow on stage the 10 candidates who fare best in an average of the five most recent national polls. The network hasn’t said which polls it will consider, other than that they “must be conducted by major, nationally recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques” and done before 5 p.m. ET Tuesday.

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If the Bloomberg survey were the sole decider, the candidates on the debate stage would be, in descending order, Trump, Bush, Walker, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, retired surgeon Ben Carson, Christie, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Kasich. The remaining candidates in the historically crowded field have been invited to a forum that will be broadcast earlier Thursday when there are typically fewer viewers.

“It could well be that the dividing line between those who make the primetime stage and those who get the consolation gift is a single percentage point—the difference between 3 percent and 2 percent,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of West Des Moines-based Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll from Thursday through Sunday evening. The survey included 500 adults who say they’re registered Republicans or registered as no party but lean Republican.

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