More issues, less gotcha in latest GOP debate

We asked our followers who won Tuesday night’s debate and what the biggest take- aways were. My debate take- aways: Donald Trump showing substance; Ben Carson drifting away; Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are serious contenders. @ hvillewxman Rubio is the winner. He understands the issues and is right on the pulse of America. @ charsouthnj Rand Paul won because we do need smaller government, and we need to stop war- mongering.

@ koppinger_ mary Carly Fiorina, as always, just takes command and shows amazing leadership. @ AMConstantine Who won? Of course, Trump as he owned Rubio and Carson. @ Tea_ Partier Paul was composed and answered questions eloquently and fully. He challenged policies and made it a debate. @ brandonerd12 They are all out of touch with reality. @ tdthomas117 Follow @ USATOpinion or # tellusatoday for more. DEBATE VIEWERSHIP Number of viewers per network that has aired a Republican primary debate for the 2016 election ( in millions): GENERAL IMPRESSIONS I loved this debate. No stupid, softball questions. Finally, we got to know more about what these candidates stand for. Kathy Masek

We learned the candidates do not like President Obama or Hillary Clinton; they want to repeal Obamacare; they want the U. S. to be the leader ( instead of Russia). In general, they are against many things. But I would like to hear specifics: How exactly do you do things better? For example, what is your alternative to Obamacare, or how would you manage Vladimir Putin? I did not hear much of that, and some candidates even called others out for that. Pekka Jaske

This was a much better debate than previous ones. Instead of moderators who sniped with irrelevant questions, the candidates talked about their views on the issues. Don Ritner ON WAGES Marco Rubio made a good point that raising the minimum wage will have the unintended consequence of accelerating the adoption of robot labor.

So it becomes a choice between the lesser of two evils: Accept a lower wage or fight for $ 15 per hour until your employer replaces you with a machine. Travis Hajek

Minimum skills mean minimum pay. It’s that simple. Want $ 15 an hour? Get a better education or skill. Dwayne Landry

Entry- level wages are too high, according to some of the Republican presidential candidates. It boggles the mind how anyone can vote for someone who suggests it’s a great idea to pay people less.

That and Ted Cruz falling into the trap of not being able to remember which parts of the federal government he’d gut were the two lowlights of the debate. Jeff Schroeder