With the first Republican debate, one of the most critical election seasons is officially open. With so much at stake, the results were as much as I expected. As I predicted, Trump didn’t show up, and his Atlanta arrest pushed it off the news in less than 24 hours. Still, looking at the discourse might give us insight into the future.

Eight people on the stage with limited time isn’t any honest debate. Two hours with commercial breaks leaves little time for an in-depth discussion. Worse, the moderators needed to steer the conversation to Americans’ concerns. Economic issues dominate the top of what Americans care about—yet inflation and the economy command little time. 

The debate gave those with little chance of winning the nomination most of the time while failing to address the real concerns of the viewers:

The Republic National Committee and Fox need to address these failings to reduce the number on the stage and ensure the moderates direct the discussion to the top concerns. 

Even though Abortion is down the list of concerns, the lack of a coherent Republican response has damaged their results in recent elections. Democrats have done an excellent job of demonizing Republicans for a six-week or less ban on allowable abortions while masking their position on Abortion right up to birth. Pence and Haley pointed to compromise somewhere between the two extremes. 

Pence favored a ban after 15 weeks, while Haley felt the Senate would only go for a more extended period. Polls show the public rejects both extremes. I think Pence has the better argument at fifteen weeks. Most other nations have settled at or near 15 weeks.