Republican candidates will battle each other for the second time this campaign season, and Ohio University students should tune in to hear a different viewpoint.
The second Republican presidential debate will likely be a place where GOP candidates solely compete for screen time and the headlines that follow, but there’s still good reason for you to tune in.
With Athens being a bubble of mainly liberal political opinions, students should really take part Wednesday in hearing the other side’s viewpoints.
Politicians that come through Athens are typically left-leaning, so the televised event is a chance to gain perspective from candidates that you likely won’t see in person.
The candidates will face off Wednesday night for the second Republican debate that will air on CNN at 8 p.m. EST and should mark a shift in style from the first GOP debate that aired in early August.
CNN said its main focus for the second Republican debate will be encouraging more candidate interaction — a departure from the first debate, which aired on FOX News and relied heavily on the debate’s three moderators to direct questions to the candidates.
That first debate brought in 24 million viewers for FOX News, making it both the highest-rated primary debate in history and the highest-rated program in the network’s history. For comparison, the first GOP debate last election season was also aired by FOX News and attracted 3.2 million viewers.
Donald Trump, business-tycoon-turned-political-machine, certainly helped bring in those millions of viewers. For some, that was just because they wanted to see the celebrity’s fiery personality react to statements made by the calm-by-comparison candidates.
Hopefully the debate will result in the candidates discussing issues, likely hot-button concerns such as immigration and civil liberties, and won’t be a platform for candidates to not-so-subtly call out other candidates on moot points.
Yes, Trump will be there, likely playing more into the entertainment factor than making substantial points, but it is important that you pay attention to what the candidates are actually saying. One of them may find themselves in the Oval Office come 2017.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Emma Ockerman, Managing Editor Rebekah Barnes, Opinion Editor Will Gibbs and Digital Managing Editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
