Martin O'Malley qualifies for Sunday's Democratic presidential debate
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has qualified for the fourth Democratic presidential debate in Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday night, NBC News announced Thursday.
To qualify, candidates needed to receive 5 percent support in recent national surveys or polls conducted in the key early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire or North Carolina.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released earlier this week found 5 percent of likely caucus goers in Iowa would back O'Malley. That survey also found 48 percent would support Hillary Clinton and 45 percent said they would back Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
On Thursday, a poll released by Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register found 4 percent of likely Iowa caucus goers said they would support O'Malley. The former governor's support has been registering in the single digits for months.
The latest Bloomberg Politics/DMR survey also found that Clinton and Sanders are in a virtual tie on Iowa. Forty-two percent of likely caucus goers said they back Clinton while 40 percent said they would favor Sanders. In the last poll, Clinton led Sanders by 9 percentage points.
NBC News will host the fourth Democratic debate on Sunday, which begins at 9 p.m. ET.
