Republican debate highlights and analysis: Candidates squabble in Simi Valley

Moderators questioned Haley on "school choice." Seven Republican states, including Florida, passed "universal school choice" this year, which mostly means vouchers for private schools that are available to nearly all students, without income limits. Public school supporters have said these vouchers are a backdoor way of defunding public schools. In most states, states take the per-pupil allocation of tax dollars and give the money directly to parents instead, allowing them to pay for private, religious, or homeschooling courses. In many states the vouchers could go to parents who could otherwise pay for private school, and aren't enough to pay for full tuition for parents who couldn't afford it. The public is divided on these policies, but trust in public schools and public education has been declining, especially among Republicans.
— Analysis by Monica Potts of 538

Asked about the challenges of high health care costs for Americans, Haley argued that the system needs a major overhaul, from the insurance companies to hospitals, with improved transparency for patients so they have more options and better knowledge of the costs they'll face. Still, this issue isn't as high on Republicans' list of key issues. In a recent Economist/YouGov survey, 58 percent of Republicans said "heath care" was a very important issue. That sounds high, but 81 percent said the same of jobs and the economy, 81 percent of national security and 77 percent of immigration. It's not the 2010 tea party era anymore, or even 2017, when the GOP failed to get rid of Obamacare while in full control of the government.

— Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538

In polling for EdChoice conducted by Morning Consult in August, 46 percent of Republicans strongly or somewhat support school vouchers, while 11 percent strongly or somewhat oppose vouchers, 27 percent say they have never heard of them, and 16 percent don’t know. After being provided a definition, support for vouchers among Republicans increased to 70 percent, and opposition increased to 19 percent.
—Analysis by 538

When Stuart Varney pressed DeSantis on the relatively high number of Floridians without insurance — Varney said 2.6 million — DeSantis blamed Washington.

“I think this is a symptom of our overall economic decline,” DeSantis said.

But the numbers from DeSantis’s own Florida Department of Health don’t show any correlation between the state of the economy and the number of Floridians without health care.

Despite population growth, and despite changes in the economy, Florida has more than 2.5 million people without health insurance at least since 2012, according to Florida Department of Health Data.

The total number of uninsured Floridians has remained relatively stable since 2018, according to the state.
-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact