Topics and participation in the CNBC Republican debate (October 2015)
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This article analyzes the central themes of the Republican presidential debate held on October 28, 2015, in Boulder, Colorado. The transcript prepared by The Washington Post was used to measure candidate participation and audience engagement.[1] Footage from the debate was consulted where there were ambiguities in the text.
To compare the statistics of this debate to the previous Republican debate, please see the analysis of topics and participation in the September 2015 CNN Republican debate.
Segments
The third Republican presidential debate featured 32 unique discussion segments covering a range of economic and regulatory issues. These discussion segments were measured by any shift in the theme of a discussion prompted by one of the moderators: John Harwood, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla. Panelists Jim Cramer, Sharon Epperson and Rick Santelli also posed questions to the candidates.
- Each candidate's greatest weakness
- Trump's candidacy
- Tax polices
- Rubio's voting record
- Bush's campaign
- Fiorina's business record
- Cruz's candidacy
- Budget deal and federal assistance programs
- Social Security
- Trump's business record and trustworthiness
- Regulation of prescription drug prices
- White collar crime and prosecution
- The budget deal and tax increases
- Internet sales tax
- Marco Rubio's personal finances
- Corporate welfare
- Pay equity
- Carson's corporate connections and ethics
- H-1B visas and U.S. unemployment
- Federal Reserve
- Oil subsidies
- Income inequality and taxation
- Marijuana legalization
- H-1B visas and merit-based immigration
- Gun-free zones
- Moral authority
- Government-organized retirement plans
- Student loan reform
- Regulation of fantasy football leagues
- Climate change
- Federal assistance programs
- Closing statements
Although the formal title of CNBC's debate was "Your Money, Your Vote," a significant number of the discussion segments – 10 out of 32 – questioned a candidate's character, professional history or personal finances.[2] Three separate discussion segments were initiated with a question related to Donald Trump's candidacy. When Mike Huckabee was asked to comment on Trump's moral authority, he said, "You know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give [Trump] some more time."[1]
Overall participation
Participation in a segment was defined by a substantive comment related to the segment's topic. Jokes and attempts to gain permission from a moderator to speak were not considered participatory speech acts. In some instances, candidates who participated in a segment diverted from the prompted topic.
Each candidate participated in six to nine discussion segments. The CNBC moderators frequently introduced a discussion segment but only asked one candidate for his or her opinion on the subject. More than half of the discussion segments involved only one candidate. Excluding the opening question and closing statements, the discussion segment on reforming federal assistance programs involved the greatest number of candidates with eight participating. The discussion segment on how to address income inequality through tax policies followed with five participants.
Candidate participation by behavior
Participation in the debate was also measured by the candidate's behavior at the start of each discussion segment. This study considered whether a candidate was initially prompted to speak during a discussion segment by a moderator or whether he or she independently engaged in the discussion segment by interrupting another candidate or calling on the moderator for permission to speak. A candidate's conduct after they joined a discussion segment was not considered.
Compared to the Democratic presidential debate held on October 28, 2015, the Republican candidates were more aggressive in interrupting their fellow candidates or the moderators in an attempt to join a discussion segment for the first time. As in the previous Republican presidential debate on CNN, Carly Fiorina interrupted the most with four interjections. Jeb Bush and John Kasich followed with the three interjections. Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee only substantively participated in a discussion segment when called on by a moderator.
Candidate participation by speaking time
NPR, Politico and The New York Times all reported on the number of minutes each candidate spoke.[3][4][5] These totals varied up to one minute between each organization's measure of candidate speaking time. According to The New York Times and Politico, Jeb Bush talked for approximately six minutes, less than any other candidate. This is a significant change from the previous Republican debate where Bush spoke longer than every candidate but Donald Trump.
Candidate participation by segment vs. speaking time
The amount of time a candidate spoke did not necessarily align with the number of issues he or she covered during the debate. For example, Bush engaged in the most discussion segments even though he spoke the least by NPR and The New York Times' measures.
Audience engagement
Audience engagement was measured by noting the instances of applause, cheering or laughter in The Washington Post's transcript. Footage from the debate was consulted where it was ambiguous in the text who the audience was responding to. Multiple expressions of positive audience engagement during one speech act were marked as a single instance of audience engagement. Huckabee, Rubio and Trump received the warmest response from the crowd, while Bush, Kasich and Paul failed to resonate with the live audience.
Although Carson had a comparatively moderate response, he was the only candidate to receive support from the live audience against a moderator's line of questioning. When Carlos Quintanilla questioned Carson's judgment relating to his business relationship with the nutritional supplement company Mannatech, the audience booed him.
Candidate speech analysis
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See also
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential election, 2016/Polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
- Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Washington Post, "The third Republican debate transcript, annotated," October 28, 2015
- ↑ CNBC, "'Your Money, Your Vote: The Republican Presidential Debate' on Wednesday October 28," September 30, 2015
- ↑ Twitter, "NPR Politics," October 28, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Republican Debate on Economic Issues: Analysis," accessed October 29, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Debate: By the numbers," October 28, 2015
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