See winners and losers in the first and second debates at Talk:2016 presidential debates.
See also 2016 presidential election.
The second presidential debate for the 2016 election was held on Wednesday, September 16, 2015, at the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, California, and set a ratings record for CNN with 1 out of every 7 American homes watching.[1] The moderator and one additional questioner was from CNN; a third questioner was from conservative Salem Radio. The transcript of the debate is here. Eleven candidates will be in this debate, including Carly Fiorina, while a separate debate among a handful of candidates aired earlier:
Candidate | Comment |
---|---|
Donald Trump | center stage |
Ben Carson | #2 in polling, expected to be soft-spoken again |
Jeb Bush | #3 in polling with much to prove |
Marco Rubio | some said he won the first debate |
Ted Cruz | works hard |
Scott Walker | falling in the polls |
Rand Paul | will try to knock out Trump |
Mike Huckabee | perhaps the smoothest debater |
John Kasich | talked about having attended a same-sex marriage at last debate |
Chris Christie | will drop out and endorse Jeb Bush |
Carly Fiorina | expect humor, and criticism of Trump |
The second debate is expected to more contentious, particularly in criticisms by numerous candidates of Donald Trump. "I’ll be attacked. I guess I’m going into a lion’s den," Trump said about this upcoming debate.[2]
The first presidential debate for the 2016 election cycle broke ratings records with an audience of 24 million viewers, making it the highest-rated primary debate in history.[3] Held on Thursday, August 6, the debate was conducted by Fox News Channel for the top ten in the polling among Republican candidates. The debate transcript is available online.[4]
The final roster of the top ten debaters, chosen on August 4, was the same as polling indicated on August 2 based on an average of the last five major national polls. The polls used by the Fox News Channel were Bloomberg, CBS News, Fox News, Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University.
These top ten candidates are the following, with the following average poll numbers as reported by NBC and WSJ (not Fox):[5]
Based on polling the second tier of candidates—who would be excluded from the prime-time debate, but allowed to participate in an earlier debate at 5pm ET—are:
Additional possibilities are another debate hosted by the Fox News Channel, and a debate hosted by conservative media.
The Democrats did not have any debates before Oct. 13, 2015, in Nevada, to be hosted by CNN, and plan a total of only 6 debates.
Here are the debates scheduled for the general election in 2016:[6]