– The GOP debate field narrows. I'm John Phillips, and this is Poll Position. (engine revving) (rock music)

Yes, the Fox Business Network, host of the next GOP debate, has announced Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina, they're out. The bomb dropped with this image of the debate lineup tweeted by Fox. Rand Paul is taking his toys and going home, and says he won't bother to show up for the Undercard. Fox did not say ahead of the announcement which polls were used to decide which candidates qualify for the main stage and which ones are relegated to the kiddie table, but let's go ahead and take a look at the polling to see why they called it like they did. A Quinnipiac poll conducted between December 16th and December 20th showed Trump on top with 28%, Ted Cruz in solid second with 24%, Marco Rubio in third with 12%, Ben Carson with 10%, Chris Christie with 6%, Jeb Bush below Christie with 4%, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina both get 2%, everyone else is at 1%. A CNN ORC poll taken between December 17th and December 21st showed Trump with a commanding 39%, Cruz a distant second with 18%, Rubio and Carson with 10% each, Chris Christie with 5%, Bush with 3%, Paul with 4%, Fiorina with 1%, and Kasich and Huckabee with 2% each, Santorum gets a goose egg. A Fox News poll was the first conducted in the new year. Between January 4th and January 7th. That shows Trump with 35%, Cruz with a strong 20%, Rubio with 13%, Carson with 10%, everyone else way below that. Christie gets 2%, Bush gets 4%, Paul gets 2%, Fiorina gets 3%, Kasich gets 2%, Huckabee gets 1%, and Santorum, again, gets nuttin'. The most recent national poll was taken between January 4th and January 8th, and shows Trump with 34%, Cruz with 18%, Rubio and Carson slipping with 9% and 8% respectively, Chris Christie and Bush with 4% each, Paul with 3%, Fiorina and Kasich with 2%, Huckabee with 1%, and Santorum, again, with zero. If you take all the average of all the polls, here's what you get according to RealClearPolitics. Trump gets 34%. That's a commanding lead. Cruz gets 20%, Rubio 11%, Carson nine and a half percent, Christie at 4.3%, Bush at 3.8%, Paul at 2.8%, Fiorina at 2%, Kasich at 1.8%, Huckabee at 1.3%, and Santorum at 0.3%. Adding to the controversy, Rand Paul may have missed the big stage by the barest of margin because a Des Moines register poll of Iowa just released after the Fox cutoff, shows to have been 5th place with 5%, which for him is a pretty strong showing. I'll also add this: When you look at those RealClearPolitics numbers, Rand Paul finishes ahead of John Kasich, who's gonna make it onstage. He was person number seven that qualified for the big debate. Why is it that John Kasich is onstage and Rand Paul is at the kiddie table making mashed potato snowmen? That's the position of the polls, but now it's time to make your opinion known. Was Fox right to boot Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina from the big stage? Should they and other low performing candidates just throw in the towel, or stake it out? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below. I'm John Phillips for Poll Position. Thanks so much for watching. (engine revving) (rock music)