Elections

Here’s Who’s In The Republican Presidential Debate

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Republican presidential candidates are getting together again Wednesday night for the second debate of the primary election.

The debate, hosted by CNN, will be broken down into a top-tier primetime platform, and a “happy hour” platform for those candidates not polling in the top 10.

Here’s what it will look like:

Primetime, 8 p.m. debate:

Donald Trump

The front-runner in the GOP field has seen his lead grow over the last several weeks, and is now up by nearly double over his closest competitor. The Real Clear Politics average of Republican presidential polling data has Trump with about 30 percent of voter support.

Ben Carson

Carson has shot up to second place in the polls and, with that, has won the honor of standing next to Trump, the leader, on the debate stage. Carson takes over the No. 2 spot from Jeb Bush, who has seen a sharp drop in poll numbers over the past two months.

Jeb Bush

The former Florida governor has struggled with recent speaking gaffes and in his offense against Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be working. He is down nearly 10 percent in the polls since mid-July, and has been on a steady decline since his last debate appearance.

Ted Cruz

The Texas senator is currently polling in fourth place, just behind Bush, with around 7 percent. Cruz’s poll numbers have stayed relatively flat throughout the primary campaign.

Marco Rubio

Support for the Florida senator has fallen since it peaked in early May. Rubio’s numbers are down nearly 10 percent from 14.3 on May 8, to just more than 5 percent in the most recent polls.

Scott Walker

The Wisconsin governor has also seen a drop in support since the last debate. The day of the debate, Aug. 6, Walker was in third place polling at around 13 percent, according to the RCP poll. Today, he is polling at just over 4 percent and has cancelled several speeches to focus efforts in South Carolina and Iowa.

Mike Huckabee

The former Arkansas governor’s poll numbers hit their peak in March of 2014 at nearly 16 percent and have been steadily declining since then. He currently sits at 4 percent.

Rand Paul

The Kentucky senator is currently polling at close to 3 percent. His popularity plummeted after what many called a poor performance in the last debate. Recently, Paul has taken to criticizing Donald Trump in an effort to kick-start his sputtering presidential effort.

John Kasich

The Ohio governor is very popular in his home state, but unfortunately for him, that is about the only place he is popular. Kasich is currently polling at just under 4 percent nationally, and that’s where he’s been for the majority of the primary campaign.

Chris Christie

The New Jersey governor, seen by some as a possible contender early on in the primary race, has slowly fallen off the map and now sits at around 2 percent in the RCP polls.

Carly Fiorina

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO was not polling in the top 10 and was only allowed to make the cut because of a last-minute rules change by CNN. However, in the RCP average of the most recent national polls, Fiorina is averaging just over 4 percent of likely voters.

The “happy hour” debate at 6 p.m. will include former Sen. Rick Santorum, Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham, all of whom are polling at around one percent.

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