Five Big Takeaways From the Republican Presidential Debate

Republican presidential candidate Sen.

Ted Cruz (center) looks on during the Republican Presidential Debate, hosted by CNN, at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to the survey, 42% of GOP viewers saw Bush in a less favorable light after the debate, while 37% said their view of him hadn’t changed.

Cruz, along with Rubio, said he understood why Trump had made his proposal for banning Muslims, and he avoided directly criticizing the front-runner. “It’s easy”, Rubio said, reminding the audience of Cruz’s comment that as president he would bomb Middle East terrorist groups so relentlessly that he would find out if sand glows in the dark. Although Bush assailed Trump as never before, it was perhaps too little too late to save his struggling campaign. “I mean, I think when you think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don’t like their friends”.

Trump didn’t have to spend most of the debate defending himself from attacks.

Cruz’s campaign dismissed the possibility that the senator from Texas had said anything out of line. Mr Trump remains the undisputed national Republican front-runner with a Monmouth University poll placing him at 41 per cent. A Washington Post and ABC News poll after he proposed the Muslim ban found support for him at 38 per cent of Republicans, up six points on mid-November.

Trump got in his usual barbs about Bush’s poll numbers and energy level, and some surely stung. And you’re not being treated fairly?’ Imagine what it’s going to be like dealing with Putin, or dealing with Xi, or dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists, ‘ Bush said to Trump, name-dropping the leaders of Russian Federation and China.

“Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally”, Rubio retorted, a reference to an amendment Cruz attached to the immigration bill that would have blocked those living here illegally from obtaining citizenship but kept a provision in the legislation that let them stay and work in the U.S. And he’d be a chaos president. “I think the good job he did last night should have been done two debates ago”.

“Donald, you’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency”. In August, Trump had said he received his military and foreign policy advice by watching Sunday morning political talk shows.

“The problem for Trump is that he has a high floor and a low ceiling”, said Mackowiak, who suggests despite his high polling, Trump will have to win over many more voters in each state in order to close the deal and win. “He would not be the commander-in-chief we need to keep our country safe”, Bush said.

When Hewitt gave him a second chance to answer, Trump’s entire response was as follows: “I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me”. “I’m totally committed to the Republican Party”, he said.