Clash is coming between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio

A whopping 49 percent of Republicans and independents who lean to the GOP say Trump is the presidential candidate who can best handle the issue – well ahead of Marco Rubio with 10 percent GOP support, Ted Cruz with 7 percent and Jeb Bush at 5 percent.

Bush has been dropping in key national polls for months, but supporters of the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former President George W. Bush believe he may not be able to begin to turn that trend around, Bloomberg reported.

Most of the Republican presidential candidates concentrated their efforts Wednesday in Iowa, New Hampshire and SC, all states with early contests.

When pressed on how he could carry out the deportation of millions of people, Trump said “you’re going to have a deportation force, and you’re going to do it humanely”.

But Republican real estate magnate Donald Trump, 69, said a rise in the minimum wage would put businesses in the United States at a disadvantage with foreign competitors. “Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage… are you sympathetic to the protesters’ cause?” The biggest loser was John Kasich, who was pilloried on social media for his constant interruptions, which weren’t necessary given the format.

It is unsafe for candidates running for president to suggest that America will not even try to enforce the immigration laws of the country.

Carson claimed that “every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases” – a notion many economists reject – and then launched into a vague spiel about how government should “allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity” rather than “give them everything and keep them dependent”.

When Rand Paul challenged his plan as non-conservative, Rubio deftly segued to Paul’s weakness, saying that he “is a committed isolationist” and, citing threats from “radical jihadists”, Iran and China, “we can’t even have an economy if we’re not safe”.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina and others staked out a no-apologies stance in support of a stronger USA military. Paul asked, pointing to Rubio’s plans to expand the military.

“I was originally supporting Bush and I switched to Rubio because I liked his passion”, a man added.

“If they split the vote”, MacManus said, “that makes it easier for someone else”. Rubio said that this election is about the future, and that if he was the nominee, they would be the “party of the 21st century”.

Advantage of Longer Format: Kasich elbowed his way into the debate again and again, saying at one point, “Look, I hate to crash the party”.

“People who know me know that I’m an honest person”, he said. “I have built a company that’s worth many, many, many billions of dollars”. “I have no problem with being vetted”. And throughout the evening, the undercurrent that ran through numerous exchanges was the looming presence of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination.