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# CNN Presidential Polls - Used by CPD - Shortchange an Entire Generation
- URL: https://ivn.us/cnn-presidential-polls-used-cpd-shortchange-entire-generation/
- Published: 2016-09-05T11:00:23.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T19:54:45.000Z
- Author: Rodolfo Cortes Barragan
- Tags: News

This election season has seen groundbreaking engagement of young people from across the political spectrum. At the moment, many are looking beyond the two establishment parties to Governor [**Gary Johnson**](https://ivn.us/tag/gary-johnson) of the Libertarian Party and Dr. [**Jill Stein**](https://ivn.us/tag/jill-stein) of the Green Party.

To introduce themselves to a national audience at the debates, Johnson and Stein need to reach a 15% average in a set of polls hand-picked by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

#### **READ MORE: [Fox News Poll Drastically Under-Samples Independents; 1 of 5 Polls Used by CPD](https://ivn.us/2016/09/02/major-poll-used-cpd-drastically-samples-independents/)**

Can the engagement of young people (as well as that of older people) successfully influence enough voters to get the third-party candidates onto the debate stage? It’s possible, but they won’t be getting much help from the CNN poll -- one of the 5 used to calculate the 15% average.

In 2016, every single CNN poll for the general election has failed to adequately sample Americans aged 18-34\. While other age groups have their results listed in terms of their % agreement to different questions, the CNN documentation lists “N/A” for those aged 18-34 (i.e., the Millennials).

The reason?

“Some subgroups represent too small a share of the national population to produce crosstabs with an acceptable sampling error.” Groups that are “too small” receive the “N/A.”

Read that again: CNN describes people aged 18-34 as “too small a share of the national population.”

Requests for clarification went unanswered by the CNN Polling Director.

I am left to conclude that the CNN poll either massively under-samples the largest generation in American history or quite simply doesn’t sample them at all.

[![Screen Shot 2016-09-04 at 11.31.11 AM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/2026/02/Screen-Shot-2016-09-04-at-11.31.11-AM-1.jpg)](https://ivn.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-04-at-11.31.11-AM-1.png)

As such, contrary to claims made by the [Commission on Presidential Debates](http://debates.org/index.php?page=overview&ref=ivn.us), the CNN polls do not represent the national electorate.

Over the course of the year, this situation has undoubtedly disadvantaged Governor Johnson and Dr. Jill Stein. By under-sampling the younger generation, CNN has robbed third-party candidates of the free media coverage enjoyed by the so-called “major” candidacies of Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump.

Indeed, reporters regularly dispute third-party candidates’ chances in light of the poll numbers. Yet, as an article in Wired magazine claims, “[the polls are all wrong](http://www.wired.com/2016/06/civis-election-polling-clinton-sanders-trump/?ref=ivn.us).”

It’s too late to fix this extraordinary injustice. We must demand that the debate commission open the debates.

*Editor’s note: If you are interested in the author’s efforts, you can visit his [petition at Change.org](https://www.change.org/p/commission-on-presidential-debates-the-polls-are-misrepresent-the-american-public-open-the-debates?recruiter=501262304&utm%5Fsource=share%5Ffor%5Fstarters&utm%5Fmedium=copyLink)or if you would like to find out how to fund additional election research, go [here](https://www.gofundme.com/electionresearch?ref=ivn.us).*