Tonight is the second Republican presidential primary debate of the 2024 election cycle. If last time is any guide, the seven participating candidates will exchange verbal blows, spew invective against President Biden, and try to present themselves as the successor to Donald Trump. Trump is the far-and-away front-runner, but he'll be speaking to autoworkers on strike in Michigan rather than join his opponents on the debate stage in California. |
There's a lot to keep in mind watching these debates: about the primary, about specific candidates, about what it might suggest for the election next November. Times Opinion has published three pieces that should help you make sense of things. |
First up, Frank Bruni, a contributing Opinion writer and former Times columnist, hosted a round-table discussion with Josh Barro and Sarah Isgur. Barro, a political commentator, and Isgur, a former Trump administration official, sparred over the extent to which the primary mattered at all, given Trump's domination in the polls. "You talk to these campaigns, and they will readily admit that if Trump wins Iowa, this thing is over," Isgur said. "And right now he's consistently up more than 30 points in Iowa." |
Not everyone agrees. "I just can't believe all the surveys or the polls that are coming out that said Trump is the favorite," said Carrie, a 55-year-old voter in Michigan, and one of the participants in our most recent focus group. "I mean, unless people are lying to me. My Republican friends say they are for anybody but Trump. I just don't get it." This is the 42nd installment in our America in Focus series, in which we spoke with 13 Republican voters who, for the most part, are decidedly against Trump. We were surprised by the enthusiasm for Nikki Haley, who to these voters seems pragmatic and focused on issues like the economy, and by the criticism of Ron DeSantis, whom these voters see as wrongly fixated on waging the culture wars. |
Their rival Vivek Ramaswamy was largely dismissed by the focus group participants, another surprise given his widely praised performance in the first Republican debate. It was after that performance that the Times Opinion columnist Carlos Lozada decided to read three of Ramaswamy's books — "Woke, Inc.," "Nation of Victims" and "Capitalist Punishment" — to understand the candidate a bit better. After his characteristically rigorous but charitable and careful analysis, Lozada concluded that "Vivek Ramaswamy Is Confused." Despite the candidate's contradictions, you may find yourself surprised, as I was, to agree with some of his positions. |
I worked on the focus group as an editor and producer, and on Lozada's column as a fact-checker. I might be a bit biased. But having read each of these pieces quite closely, I can say confidently that I'll tune into this next debate more informed about the event, its participants and its stakes, and more prepared to form an opinion on what it all means. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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