Fans Want Jon Stewart For Presidential Debate Moderator

Over 250,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org in hope of having Jon Stewart moderate one of the three major 2016 presidential debates. The petition is one of the fastest growing on the site and has attracted over 250,000 signatures in two short weeks – Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley among them.

The petition was launched by Muriel Waters. She points to The Daily Show‘s multiple Peabody Awards and Stewart’s experience in interviewing hundreds of politicians during his career as reasons why the former host is qualified for the role. Waters also cites a Reuters/Ipsos poll which found that 52% of respondents shared the same world view as Stewart. That type of trust makes Stewart “a popular choice” for a moderator.

Waters said she got the idea from a similar petition launched in 2012 by three high school students. Emma Axelrod, Sammi Siegel, and Elena Tsemberis started a petition during the last U.S. presidential election to have a woman moderate a presidential debate. The last time a woman moderated a U.S. presidential debate was in 1992. Their petition was successful, which inspired Waters to create her own.

Jon Stewart has been largely absent from the public eye since his last episode of The Daily Show aired earlier this month. He is set to return, albeit briefly, to the small screen on Sunday for a different type of gig – as the host of WWE’s SummerSlam.