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Topics and participation in the CNN Republican debate (September 2015)
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This article analyzes the central themes of the Republican presidential debate held on September 16, 2015, and how the moderators and candidates engaged with each subject and each other.
Segments
The September Republican presidential debate featured 27 unique segments touching on a range of political, domestic, foreign policy and national security issues. These segments were measured by any shift in the discussion prompted by one of the moderators: Dana Bash, Hugh Hewitt and Jake Tapper.
- Introductions
- Donald Trump's temperament
- Politicians vs. outsiders
- Campaign finance and special interest groups
- Russia & Syria
- Iran nuclear deal
- Cybersecurity and China
- Bashar Assad and the Syrian refugee crisis
- Religious liberty
- Defunding Planned Parenthood and a potential government shutdown
- Women's health issues
- Immigration reform
- Birthright citizenship
- Business experience
- Taxes
- Leadership and communication style
- Foreign policy knowledge
- Military leadership
- Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court
- Marijuana legalization
- Second Amendment rights
- Social Security
- Climate change
- Mandatory vaccination
- Recommending a woman to appear on the $10 bill
- Secret Service code names
- Planned presidential legacy
Overall participation
Participation in a segment was defined by a substantive comment related to the segment's topic. Jokes and attempts to gain permission from a moderator to speak were not considered participatory speech acts. In some instances, candidates who participated in a segment diverted from the prompted topic.
Donald Trump spoke on the greatest number of topics, participating in 17 different segments. Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush followed with 15 segments and 14 segments, respectively. Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker spoke on the fewest subjects, engaging in only 10 segments each.
Candidate participation by segment vs. time
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| Bush | Carson | Christie | Cruz | Fiorina | Huckabee | Kasich | Paul | Rubio | Trump | Walker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Segments | 14 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 10 |
| Time (min.) | 15.3 | 12.5 | 12.3 | 11 | 13 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 11.5 | 19.5 | 8 |
Source: CNN
The amount of time a candidate spoke did not necessarily reflect the breadth of his or her contributions to the debate. For example, Ben Carson spoke for 12.5 minutes in 10 different segments. Scott Walker, by comparison, spoke 4.5 minutes less than Carson did and covered the same number of segments.
Candidate participation by behavior
Participation in the debate was also measured by the candidate's behavior during each segment. This study considered whether a candidate was initially prompted to speak during a segment by a moderator or whether he or she independently engaged in the segment by interrupting another candidate or calling on the moderator for permission to speak.
Carly Fiorina attempted to interject herself into seven different segments before a moderator could prompt her. Ted Cruz was the only candidate who never engaged in a segment without first being prompted by a moderator.
Donald Trump received the most attention from the moderators, participating in 15 segments as a result of their prompting. The moderators attempted to engage Scott Walker the least, only prompting him to join a segment's discussion six times.
Segments by participation
Aside from introductions and the final three questions asked of all candidates, the segment on military leadership had the most participants, with all Republican presidential candidates except for Ted Cruz participating. Immigration reform was the second most discussed topic with seven candidates weighing in.
The segments on the Iran nuclear deal, religious liberty, the importance of foreign policy knowledge and Social Security featured the fewest candidate voices with only two each.
Moderator prompts
Of the 27 topical segments, 17 were prompted with a question from a moderator asking one candidate to comment on another candidate's position. For example, Jake Tapper's first question following the candidates' introductions called on Carly Fiorina to speak to Donald Trump's temperament and whether she would "feel comfortable" with his "finger on the nuclear codes."
A total of six segment prompts related to a position or statement by Trump. Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, and Carly Fiorina each had two segment prompts focused on one of their positions. Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker were each featured in one subject prompt. Neither Mike Huckabee nor Rand Paul had policy positions used to introduce any segments.
Candidate analysis
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See also
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential election, 2016/Polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
- Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
- Voters First Republican Presidential Forum: August 3, 2015
