GOP lash out at illegal immigration in debate preview

The Republican National Committee is hosting a Voters First Forum for Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire on Monday night at 7 p.m.to kick off its official debate season. Critics say winnowing the field at this early stage undermines the importance of early state primaries in places such as Iowa, and New Hampshire.

Recent polls show Trump sustaining his lead among Republicans, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker much to the surprise of political analysts and the dismay of established Republican leaders.

Trump, who launched his presidential bid by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, declined to attend the New Hampshire event.

Nevertheless, Trump has rocketed up the ladder to the top of the list in popularity in the national polls ahead of this Thursday’s first debate with the top 10 Republican candidates. They’d rather see back-to-back debates with the field randomly split in half, or putting all 17 candidates on the same stage, the poll found.

Moderators Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace will present the debate among the top 10 candidates in an average of five national polls. Marco Rubio, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. After the initial round of questions, all the candidates will return to the stage for several more specific questions, giving them a chance to distinguish themselves from the rest of the field, Spiner said.

Three days before the first presidential primary debate, the line-up of potential candidates who will be included is coming into focus. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore didn’t get into the race on time to make the forum. Currently, 29 percent named Trump as the candidate they “would not vote for under any circumstances”, with Bush finishing second at 16 percent. Next is former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (1.8 points).

It’s a significant shift from a poll released in mid-July, where Trump was sitting at 13 percent. If he asks them to respond to something Trump said, Hagle says the best answer may be along the lines of “I don’t want to talk about Trump, here’s my plan …” Perry, for his part, has improved on the stump from his famous “oops” moment in a 2012 debate that was fatal to his already struggling candidacy.

Click through to see what a few of the candidates are saying about the upcoming debate.

Craig Robinson of TheIowaRepublican.com blog expects the strategies may be different for those candidates who will participate in a Fox News debate later in the week.

“The American people don’t trust Washington DC to deal with immigration until we secure the border”, he said at the event, broadcast live on C-Span.