# Who do you think will do well in the debate tonight (8/6/15)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 6, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146 "2015-08-06T12:28:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/21 "2015-08-06T16:51:00Z")
I wish the OP had included a public poll. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/22 "2015-08-06T18:08:46Z")
With this many people on the stage, it will likely just be a hand-raising contest: Who’s against abortion? ::all raise hands:: Who’s against gun control? ::all raise hands:: Who wants to send all the Messicans home? ::all raise hands:: If they let people speak, it’s going to have to be in very short soundbites so that everyone can make a comment. In other words, totally meaningless and with no winners. As mentioned, there may be a loser if somebody doesn’t listen to his handlers and says something even more stupid than usual. Trump will save his vitriol for after the debate for maximum press coverage, rather than risk being embarrassed in person by somebody smarter than he is. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/23 "2015-08-06T19:09:26Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Bush, Kasich, and Walker will (or should be) playing it conservatively (no pun intended). So I wouldn’t expect much from them. > > Cruz and Christie need to step up, and have the debate chops to do so. If someone comes out a big winner, I’d put my money on those two. > > Carson and Rubio do not have the debate skills and probably aren’t willing to go full retard to win the debate. > > Huckabee is a wild card. He’s capable of impressing, but doesn’t always bring his A game. > > Rand Paul will get attention for just saying his normal opinions, so I expect him to be a “winner” almost regardless of his performance. > > I suspect Trump will actually dial it back a notch, and the big news will be that he didn’t say anything terribly stupid. Hard to improve on that analysis. Everyone will be watching Trump, and I agree that he will comport himself better than expected. He’s not stupid (but he DOES play stupid on TV). ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/24 "2015-08-06T20:05:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Hard to improve on that analysis. Everyone will be watching Trump, and I agree that he will comport himself better than expected. He’s not stupid (but he DOES play stupid on TV). I agree he’s not stupid. But he’s Dunning-Kruger’s poster boy. And not stupid doesn’t mean smart. Smart people don’t think they can get Mexico to build a border wall for us. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/25 "2015-08-06T20:21:26Z")
I think Trump is genuinely not that bright. Ted Cruz plays stupid. Trump just really is of average intelligence, which comes across as stupid in a national-level politician. It’s hard to substantiate such an opinion, but he just ticks a lot of the little heuristic boxes you develop in life. He’s obsessed with educational pedigree. He selects stupid people to serve him (his lawyer and closest advisor thinks spousal rape isn’t a thing). His bombast isn’t politically calculated, which means he probably believes some of it. It just doesn’t add up to a smart guy playing stupid to me. I do think, however, that he has the sense that god gave a bright third-grader, and as a consequence he’s going to ratchet it back a bit for this debate. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/26 "2015-08-06T21:26:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If anything, Christie vs. Trump would make Christie look weak. It’s impossible to bully Trump and Trump, being less restrained, is likely to put anyone who comes at him in their place. Trump is a bully in a way that no mere politician can even hope to match. > . Like a 5 year-old bully in a “no I’m not, you are” sort of way. His retaliations are predictable and lame. Closes his eyes, raises his nose, and makes ridiculous as-a-matter-of-fact statements about whoever just made fun of him. “Frankly (insert opponent here) is a really poor, poor (insert opponents job here). Nobody likes them and their ratings are poor. They won’t be around soon.” OUCH! ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/27 "2015-08-06T21:51:27Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > I think Trump is genuinely not that bright. Ted Cruz plays stupid. Trump just really is of average intelligence, which comes across as stupid in a national-level politician. > > It’s hard to substantiate such an opinion, but he just ticks a lot of the little heuristic boxes you develop in life. He’s obsessed with educational pedigree. He selects stupid people to serve him (his lawyer and closest advisor thinks spousal rape isn’t a thing). His bombast isn’t politically calculated, which means he probably believes some of it. It just doesn’t add up to a smart guy playing stupid to me. > > I do think, however, that he has the sense that god gave a bright third-grader, and as a consequence he’s going to ratchet it back a bit for this debate. We’ll see. He’s a Birther. All by itself, that disqualifies him for a spot on the Honor Society. Christie probably can’t out-bully Trump, but Christie is smart enough and mean enough to make Trump flip his wig in national television. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/28 "2015-08-06T23:40:18Z")
There were almost more warm bodies on the stage for the kiddie-table debate than were [in the audience.](https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/photos/a.283559809998.33779.5281959998/10150640118209999/?type=1&theater) ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/29 "2015-08-07T00:35:27Z")
This is kind of neat - Google has a page showing realtime searches for the people in the first debate. It shows that Fiorina received the most interest from people searching the internet as the debate went on. This link also has info about the searches people have been doing on the candidates and the sort of questions they were asked. Fascinating stuff, (for certain values of “fascinating”, obviously). Man, I wish we could have had data like this for previous elections. > **[Republican debate 1: August 6, 2015](https://trends.google.com/trends/story/US_cu_pMFd-k4BAAC3uM_en)** > > See how Republican debate 1: August 6, 2015 is trending on Google right now. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/30 "2015-08-07T01:07:23Z")
AND THEY’RE OFF! Trump gets the first headline of the evening. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/31 "2015-08-07T01:11:16Z")
I do think Trump is a doofus, but that was pretty ballsy. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/32 "2015-08-07T01:23:03Z")
The game seems to be: Moderator asks each candidate a highly personalized and surprisingly hard hitting question and candidate dodges it and launches into a stump speech. But the 5 minutes or so before 9 was absolutely delicious. They marched the candidates out on the stage and then and only then realized they had 5 minutes to kill - so the candidates just stood there while the moderators bantered about how awkward it was. And Trump is very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/33 "2015-08-07T01:25:07Z")
Trump sure hates Rosie. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/34 "2015-08-07T01:29:03Z")
Trump’s going to Godzilla all over this debate, it’s glorious. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/35 "2015-08-07T01:36:12Z")
Very surprised at how hard-hitting the first round of questions were. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/36 "2015-08-07T01:38:26Z")
I should have been more optimistic about Kasich. Good start for him. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/37 "2015-08-07T01:43:00Z")
Cruz is too stupid to understand how complex war is. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/38 "2015-08-07T01:49:04Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Cruz is too stupid to understand how complex war is. I don’t think he understands the complexity of a piece of wood. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/39 "2015-08-07T01:52:50Z")
“It’s complex” is the standard excuse for failure. Smart leaders embrace complexity and succeed anyway. Weak ones complain about how complicated things are as an excuse for failure. Democrats should show a little maturity and take their lumps on Obama’s ISIS policy like grownups. He’s got a bad policy, you all know he has a bad policy. You may think Republican ideas are worse,and they may very well be worse, but so far your ideas aren’t doing any good either, so cut them some slack. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146/40 "2015-08-07T01:55:10Z")
Looks like Christie went after Paul instead of Trump. Good exchange, I’d call it a draw, despite my thinking that Paul is right on this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-will-do-well-in-the-debate-tonight-8-6-15/727146.md?page=3)