Rick Santorum (12) Republican Presidential candidate
Ted Cruz (13) Republican 2016 Primary Challenger
OR click on an issue category below for a subset.
The Fox Business/Wall Street Journal Republican presidential primary debate on November 10, 2015 was "two-tiered":
8 GOP candidates in the prime-time slot (9 PM EST)
The remaining 4 GOP candidates in an earlier slot (7 PM EST)
The top tier was determined by 4 averaged poll results prior to the debate:
The first tier candidates scored over 2.5% and the second tier scored over 1%.
The poll result order is shown on the left below and the graphic above.
Viewership ratings for this debate set a record for Fox Business (which averages 0.1 million viewers per day),
as did previous debates for their network viewership (shown on right below)
First Tier
CEO Donald Trump
Dr. Ben Carson
Sen. Marco Rubio
Sen. Ted Cruz
Gov. Jeb Bush
CEO Carly Fiorina
Gov. John Kasich
Sen. Rand Paul
Second Tier
Gov. Chris Christie
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Gov. Bobby Jindal
Sen. Rick Santorum
Did not qualify
Sen. Lindsey Graham
Gov. George Pataki
Gov. Jim Gilmore
Viewership ratings
13.5 million viewers for Nov. 10 Fox Business top-tier GOP debate
4.7 million viewers for Fox Business second-tier GOP debate
15.3 million viewers for Oct. 13 CNN Democratic debate
14.0 million viewers for CNBC GOP debate
24.6 million viewers for Fox News GOP debate
22.6 million viewers for CNN GOP debate
OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
Budget & Economy Ben Carson: Stop tinkering around the edges & address the problem.
Bobby Jindal: Wanting to cut is easy; actually cutting is harder.
Bobby Jindal: Cut the government economy to grow the American economy.
Carly Fiorina: Combine zero-based budget with tax reform.
Carly Fiorina: Dodd-Frank bank regulation is how socialism starts.
Chris Christie: Hillary is coming for your wallet.
Chris Christie: The Fed should stop maintaining low interest rates.
Jeb Bush: Dodd-Frank increased costs of community banking.
Jeb Bush: Don't accept new norm of 2% growth; strategize for 4%.
Jeb Bush: 2% growth hurts the middle class.
John Kasich: Economic theory is fine, but people need help.
Marco Rubio: Raising the minimum wage is an economic disaster.
Rand Paul: Fiscal conservative on both domestic & military spending.
Rand Paul: The Fed is destroying the value of our currency.
Rick Santorum: Over-taxation and over-regulation shut down our economy.
Ted Cruz: Would I bail out the banks again? Absolutely not!
Ted Cruz: I would not bail out Bank of America.
Ted Cruz: 1.2% annual growth over last 8 years is a disaster.
Corporations Bobby Jindal: We all want to get rid of death tax & reduce power of IRS.
Donald Trump: Get U.S. money back into U.S.: address corporate inversion.
John Kasich: Never let depositors lose their bank deposits.
Marco Rubio: Regulations favor big banks because small ones can't keep up.
Mike Huckabee: Stop punishing manufacturing; stop punishing work.
Rick Santorum: No bailouts: I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist.
Ted Cruz: End sugar subsidies and corporate welfare.
Drugs Ben Carson: Change national narrative so fewer die from drugs.
Energy & Oil Jeb Bush: Economic growth pays for environmental clean-up.
John Kasich: 20,000 jobs from fracking plus 300,000 other jobs.
Rand Paul: Repeal energy regulations like Clean Power Act.
Environment Jeb Bush: Repeal EPA restrictions on clean water and clean power.
Families & Children Marco Rubio: Pro-family tax code: increase child-care tax credit.
Marco Rubio: Most important job is being a parent.
Rick Santorum: This campaign is all about two words: "Working Families".
Foreign Policy Carly Fiorina: Arm the Kurds, the Emiratis, and more.
Donald Trump: Let Russia bash ISIS; let Germany defend Ukraine.
Jeb Bush: Big difference between world's policeman and world's leader.
Jeb Bush: Syria & Iraq talk to Russia due to lack of U.S. leadership.
John Kasich: China doesn't own the South China Sea; show US Navy there.
Marco Rubio: Void in the Middle East, so gangster Putin steps in.
Ted Cruz: Under Hillary's leadership, every region of world is worse.
Free Trade Rick Santorum: FactCheck: Several other candidates support EXIM Bank too.
Donald Trump: TPP is a horrible deal; no one has read its 5,600 pages.
John Kasich: TPP is a strategic alliance against China.
Rand Paul: Senate should be involved in trade deals, not just President.
Rick Santorum: Export financing to level playing field for US manufacturers.
Government Reform Carly Fiorina: We've become a nation of rules, not a nation of laws.
Carly Fiorina: Problem is government growing bigger, crushing growth.
Chris Christie: There's nothing for free; federal programs mean taxes.
Jeb Bush: A powerful D.C. hurts economic growth.
Mike Huckabee: State budget basics: educate, medicate, and incarcerate.
Ted Cruz: Obama-era regulations hurt small business.
Ted Cruz: Eliminate IRS, HUD, and Departments of Commerce & Energy.
Health Care Bobby Jindal: My plan puts patients & doctors back in control.
Carly Fiorina: ObamaCare is failing; replace 10,000 pages with free market.
Carly Fiorina: Replace ObamaCare with state-managed high-risk pools.
Chris Christie: No single-payer system; no healthcare nationalization.
John Kasich: We reduced Medicaid funding by 7.5% with no benefit cuts.
Rick Santorum: Let veterans go to private hospitals instead of VA hospitals.
Ted Cruz: Don't exempt Congress from ObamaCare, or any law.
Homeland Security Ben Carson: Goal of global jihadists is to destroy our way of life.
Chris Christie: Yes, there is a crisis at the VA.
Donald Trump: We worry about Iranian nukes but why not North Korean nukes?
Jeb Bush: We don't need a divider-in-chief: rebuild the V.A.
Marco Rubio: World is safer when America is the strongest military power.
Rand Paul: How is it conservative to add $1T in military expenditures?
Rand Paul: We spoke to Russians throughout the Cold War; keep doing so.
Rand Paul: FactCheck: Yes, military spending as much as next 10 nations.
Rick Santorum: Commander-in-chief is not an entry-level position.
Immigration Donald Trump: Ship millions back to Mexico, like Eisenhower did.
Donald Trump: Walls on borders work; just ask Israel.
Donald Trump: We must stop illegal immigration; it hurts us economically.
Jeb Bush: We need practical plan; not possible to deport 11M illegals.
John Kasich: It's a silly argument to ship 11M illegals back to Mexico.
Mike Huckabee: Take care of jobless Americans rather than save Syrians.
Ted Cruz: Illegals are an economic calamity for low-wage Americans.
Jobs Ben Carson: Raising the minimum wage increases unemployment.
Bobby Jindal: 60 months in a row of job growth in Louisiana.
Donald Trump: Don't raise minimum wage; it makes us non-competitive.
Donald Trump: I have relevant experience by creating jobs and assets.
John Kasich: I created jobs in Congress & in Ohio; let's make it thrice.
John Kasich: When you balance the budget & cut taxes, people get work.
Marco Rubio: Raising minimum wage would replace people with machines.
Mike Huckabee: Wages for bottom 90% of the economy stagnant for 40 years.
Rick Santorum: Jobs are open in manufacturing but no skilled workers.
Principles & Values Bobby Jindal: Republicans should embrace Republican principles.
Carly Fiorina: Take back government and restore security and prosperity.
John Kasich: Capitalism needs values to avoid unfettered greed.
John Kasich: Conservative government will rebuild American from bottom up.
Marco Rubio: This election is a generational choice about 21st century.
Marco Rubio: Each generation has left America better, until now.
Mike Huckabee: I want to give a chance for American dream.
Rick Santorum: I'm a real conservative who won in a blue state.
Ted Cruz: We the people can turn this nation around.
Social Security Marco Rubio: Child tax credit refundable against payroll tax.
Mike Huckabee: Entitlements are earned benefits, not welfare.
Rand Paul: Eliminate payroll tax for employees.
Ted Cruz: Personal accounts for young; no changes for elderly.
Ted Cruz: Eliminate payroll tax entirely. and IRS entirely.
Tax Reform Ben Carson: Cancel mortgage deduction and charitable deduction.
Bobby Jindal: 3-tiered tax rate: 25%/10%/2%, with 2% for even the poorest.
Chris Christie: Get rid of deductions except charitable & mortgage deduction.
Chris Christie: Get rid of all deductions; get government off our backs.
Mike Huckabee: 22% of cost of goods is embedded taxes; take that tax out.
Mike Huckabee: FairTax is better than punishing productivity.
Rand Paul: Refundable tax credits are same as welfare transfers.
Rand Paul: Penny Plan: cut 1% across the board; balance budget in 2020.
Rick Santorum: 20% flat tax on all income of all types.
Ted Cruz: There are more words in the tax code than in the Bible.
Technology Carly Fiorina: The secret sauce of America is innovation.
Chris Christie: The Chinese don't take us seriously, and why should they?
Marco Rubio: Fast change: Candy Crush got 100 million people in 1 year.
Rick Santorum: Get federal government out of the infrastructure business.
War & Peace Carly Fiorina: Aggressive exercises in Baltic; more US troops in Germany.
Chris Christie: I'll fly Air Force One over China's artificial islands.
Donald Trump: Assad is a bad guy, but his replacement could be worse.
Jeb Bush: We should have a no fly zone in Syria.
John Kasich: Work with allies like Israel, Egypt, Jordan.
Marco Rubio: ISIS hates our way of life; either they win or we win.
Rand Paul: A no-fly zone in Iraq means shooting war with Russia.
Rand Paul: Arming al Qaeda let it become ISIS.
Welfare & Poverty Ben Carson: Give poor people opportunity to not be poor people.
Bobby Jindal: Cut government to reclaim American dream with good jobs.
Mike Huckabee: Poverty system was set up by poverty industry.
Rand Paul: Income inequality comes from Democrats & the Fed.
Rick Santorum: Going to work while on welfare loses money.
The above quotations are from Fox Business/Wall Street Journal Two-Tier 2015 GOP primary debate First Tier: Top Eight by polls Second Tier: Four other Republicans.