DNC shoots down Andrew Yang's request for more polling

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The Democratic National Committee is rejecting presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s call for the committee to conduct its own polling amid concerns about the lack of diversity on the debate stage.

A DNC spokesperson told Fox News on Monday, “The DNC will not sponsor its own debate qualifying polls of presidential candidates during a primary. This would break with the long standing practice of both parties using independent polling for debate qualification, and it would be an inappropriate use of DNC resources that should be directed at beating Donald Trump.“

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Yang was the only Democratic presidential candidate of color to make December’s debate stage, after California Sen. Kamala Harris dropped out of the race and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro failed to meet the party’s polling qualifications.

In a Dec. 21 letter to DNC Chairman Tom Perez, Yang warned that a “diverse set of candidates might be absent from the stage” during the next debate in Iowa, citing the “holidays and meager number of polls currently out in the field (that won’t be able to account for this week’s debate performances).”

“This is a troubling prospect for our party,” Yang wrote.

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Suggesting changes, Yang went on to say: “Hence, I propose a simple solution: between now and January 10, the DNC should commission four early state qualifying polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, where all the candidates have invested their time, resources and staff. It would provide an accurate snapshot of the current state of the race and where voters’ hearts and minds are, thus getting ahead of an imminent problem.”

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The DNC, however, defended the current process in shooting down Yang's request.

“The DNC has been more than inclusive throughout this entire process with an expansive list of qualifying polls, including 26 polls for the December debate, more than half of which were state polls,” the official said in the statement.

On Monday, though, Yang celebrated other news: his campaign announced that comedian and actor Ken Jeong – known for his roles in “Community” and “The Hangover” – is endorsing his campaign for president.

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“I love Andrew Yang and am proud to be endorsing him. He’s offering me a thousand bucks a month to say this,” Jeong said in a statement released by the campaign.

The statement is in reference to Yang’s trademark proposal to implement a government program that would give $1,000 a month to all adult Americans.

Fox News’ Andres Del Aguila contributed to this report.