While many candidates onstage have sparred with each other -- including Haley and Ramaswamy swapping sharp words on foreign policy -- Scott has yet to engage with any of the other candidates.

Much of his remarks have almost word for word repeated elements from his campaign stump speech. When asked about China, which he has addressed in other appearances, he pivoted to speaking about the U.S. border.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Oren Oppenheim

Asked to raise their hand if they would not increase aid to Ukraine, DeSantis did so, saying that "Europe needs to step up. They need to step up and do their job."

He argued: "I would have Europe pull their weight. ... Our support should be contingent on them doing it.

DeSantis -- who had received backlash from some other politicians for seemingly backtracking on support for Ukraine -- pivoted to say that he wasn’t going to send troops overseas but rather down to the Southern border.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie and Will McDuffie

According to a Pew Research Center survey from August 2022, 72 percent of Republicans say that increasing security on the U.S.-Mexico border is a very important goal for immigration policy. However, Hispanic and non-Hispanic Republicans differ on this issue, with 55 percent of Hispanic Republicans saying border security is a very important goal, compared with 74 percent of non-Hispanic Republicans.
-Analysis by FiveThirtyEight

Baier and MacCallum have repeatedly sought to stop Pence from interrupting their questions or other candidates' answers -- an example of a debate in which the candidates were sometimes freewheeling in how they answered questions and handled the time limit rules the moderators had set out.

While asking Hutchinson about the border, Baier again had to again stop Pence, saying, "Vice President Pence, it really doesn't help."

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod

In the aftermath of a debate, it can be hard to figure out the actual impact of a viral moment or heated exchange. Here are some data-driven approaches that can help cut through the noise:

First, ignore “instant polls” that ask questions only among people who watched the debate. That group is not likely to represent the feelings of the broader population. Instead, look for post-debate polls — (like ours with Ipsos and the Washington Post) — that ask questions among the same group of Americans both pre- and post-debate.

Second, in the days following the debate, look at data that captures attention to candidates, such as trends in search results or media coverage, to determine which candidate made the biggest splash. Media attention is crucial for candidates who aren’t well known to gain traction in the polls and with donors.

Finally, look for changes in horse-race polls in the week or two after the debate. There is a lot of noise in primary polls (especially this time around) and it can take some time for changes in public opinion to be reflected in our polling average.

The big thing to remember is that what’s important to journalists and television pundits may not be what’s important to the public, and we have to wait for pollsters to ask them how they feel.

-Analysis by G. Elliott Morris of FiveThirtyEight