5 percent is a damn low threshold, if you can not garner 5 percent now, why are you even in the races?
5% of opinion polls at this stage don't prove anything. Opinion polls of people who have thought about who they intend to vote for at this early stage does not do anything since the majority of the electorate haven't even thought about the election. 5% of 10% of those who have a candidate in mind proves nothing. For all we know in the primaries these candidates could garner 15, 20or 30% or more. This is why we have primary elections. Those who don't have enough support at that time will be eliminated by the people followed by even more being eliminated in the conventions. There is no legitimate reason to eliminate people from debates other than to make sure that they never get the chance to be heard when the majority of people begin to think about the candidates which for most people won't be until January or February.