Trump leads GOP field into Fox debate
Fox News has announced the 10 candidates who will take the stage for Thursday’s Republican debate in Ohio, the first official clash of the 2016 Presidential race. Here’s what you need to know:
While new Republican darling Donald Trump easily secured top spot, a pair of governors just squeaked into the Top Ten. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will round out a field that also contains former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
Former technology executive Carly Fiorina and former Texas governor Rick Perry are among seven hopefuls who were relegated to second-tier status.
Republican officials were particularly concerned about Fiorina’s presence, hoping she would help balance Hillary Rodham Clinton’s push to rally women to her candidacy.
Fiorina and Perry will be allowed to take part in a pre-debate forum, along with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, former New York governor George Pataki and former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore.
Fox didn’t say before Tuesday’s announcement which polls it would use to determine its top 10. Many candidates are grouped together in the single digits, most separated by a number smaller than the margin of error.
For example, in a Monmouth University survey released Monday, Kasich was the 10th candidate with the support of 3.2 per cent of voters. But after taking the margin of error into account, Monmouth noted that Kasich’s support could be as low as 1.5 per cent, while almost any of the candidates who polled lower could be that high or higher.
Monmouth found that only five candidates — Trump, Bush, Walker, Cruz and Huckabee — were definitely in the top tier of candidates, while just two — Pataki and Gilmore — would not make it into the top 10 even when margin of error was taken into account.
Fox has tapped three of its anchors — Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace — to moderate the debate, which thanks to Trump’s presence could become one of the most watched events in U.S. political history. Wallace, a 10-year veteran of Fox, told the Washington Post he was thinking a lot about Trump. “He’s a big wild card because you don’t know how he’s going to react,” he said.
Donald Trump’s rapid rise has surprised many Republican officials, some of whom fear his rhetoric on immigration and other divisive issues could hurt the party. In a Tuesday interview, Trump said he’s been defying expectations all his life. “I think people are tired, they’re sick and tired of incompetent politicians,” he said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe when asked to explain his rise.