The GOP Campaign trail 3 days before Iowa Caucus

The TV ratings are in for the Republicans’ first Trump-less debate, and the results are mixed.

“I think it’ll hurt him that he’s not showing up in the Iowa debate four days before the Iowa caucuses”, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told CNN.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as the crowd applauds during a campaign stop at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua, N.H., on Friday.

While Trump refused to attend the Fox News debate allegedly because of host Megyn Kelly, the network released a statement saying it would not pander to the demands of a politician and would maintain its journalistic integrity despite “terrorization”. “If Fox News has no Trump, then I am all Trump”.

Updated: Still, the audience for the seventh of the GOP presidential debates was substantially smaller than the August 6 Fox News broadcast, which attracted 24 million viewers, according to the Los Angeles Tines.

Trump’s success in that effort – which was aided by hard-line conservatives’ growing skepticism of Fox News – seemed to open the floodgates for Trump’s adversaries.

Hundreds of voters waited Trump’s arrival in Nashua for a rally scheduled the morning after a Fox News debate the Republican front-runner shunned in favor of hosting his own show – an event dedicated to veterans.

Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and Mr Bush were joined on the debate stage by Ben Carson, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul. Rubio came next with 20 percent, and Sen. There’s been a half dozen of them in the run up to next week’s caucuses in Iowa.

Trump said he asked Fox News for $5 million to give to veterans causes in order for him to appear.

Pew’s survey found that Republicans are watching the debates in higher percentages than Democrats or independents, and that GOP viewers are less interested in seeing candidates from the other party. Fox said they declined the offer. Adding that Trump is “an entertaining guy, he’s the greatest show on earth”, but the campaign “is about America, and a president that has systematically destoryed numerous things that made America special”.

Cruz echoed that sentiment in his closing remarks on the main stage when he said, “The media noise will soon be over, and it’s time for the people of Iowa to decide”.