Republican debate highlights and analysis: Candidates squabble in Simi Valley

2024 hopefuls argued over education, spending and border security.

The second Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary, taking place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, has just come to an end.

The affair was more raucous than the first debate, which took place over a month ago. Candidates interrupted one another much more regularly and several — most notably former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — have directly criticized front-runner Donald Trump, who elected not to show up tonight. The two candidates from South Carolina, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, went after one another for their records on spending, and seemingly everyone who had the chance to take a shot at entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy did so.

Read below for highlights, excerpts and key moments.


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Fact-checking Haley’s claim that ‘Congress has only delivered a budget on time four times’

This is accurate. From our colleagues at the Pew Research Center:

“In the nearly five decades that the current system for budgeting and spending tax dollars has been in place, Congress has passed all its required appropriations measures on time only four times: fiscal 1977 (the first full fiscal year under the current system), 1989, 1995 and 1997. And even those last three times, Congress was late in passing the budget blueprint that, in theory at least, precedes the actual spending bills.”
-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact


In an August poll by YouGov/The Economist, Republicans were particularly likely to be wary of the U.S. relationship with China. Forty-three percent of Republicans said China poses an immediate and serious economic threat to the U.S., while only 16 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independents agreed. When it comes to a military threat, 33 percent of Republicans said China poses an immediate and serious threat, compared with 13 percent of Democrats and 24 percent of independents.
—Analysis by 538


Likely Republican voters are pretty split on "sending U.S. military forces to Mexico to fight drug cartels," according to our pre-debate 538/Washington Post/Ipsos poll. 44 percent support the proposed policy, compared with 46 percent who oppose.

—Analysis by Holly Fuong of 538


Interruptions early

Some early moments in this debate have involved significant cross-talk and interruptions. Burgum's main two comments so far both came via him jumping in to speak without having been asked a question, which is something a low-polling candidate on the periphery of the stage (and race) might as well do with little to lose. Unlike in the first debate, there hasn't been as much of a push by the moderators to give a short rebuttal opportunity to candidates who were mentioned by another candidate, although multiple candidates have asked for that already.

—Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538


Early state check-in: South Carolina

Trump maintains a lead of 27 percentage points over Haley, his nearest competitor in South Carolina, according to polls conducted since the first debate. Haley’s average support has grown by 9 points since the first debate, while DeSantis and Scott have fallen.

According to a September survey from Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research/Fox Business, 69 percent of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters say they support their first-choice candidate strongly, while 28 percent say they support them only somewhat. Among those that list Trump as their first choice, 86 percent say they support him strongly, while the second-place candidate, Haley, has only 57 percent saying the same.

In a September survey by Monmouth University/The Washington Post, South Carolina primary voters are split on whether the Republican Party should nominate a candidate who agrees with them on major issues (51 percent) or one who can beat Biden (45 percent). Among voters who say they are very or somewhat conservative, selecting a candidate who can beat Joe Biden is more important by a margin of 7 and 11 percentage points, respectively. Voters who say they are moderate or liberal prefer a candidate who agrees with them on major issues by 31 percentage points.

—Analysis by 538