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POLL: Who ‘Won’ the GOP Town Hall?

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Ben Carson talks to the audience as Anderson Cooper watches during the GOP town hall. (Getty)

 

With the polling race in South Carolina coming to an end soon, the GOP candidates had one more chance to lay out their proposals for South Carolinians in a CNN town hall hosted by CNN except for Trump, who will appear in tomorrows event but also held his own and thus had two chances). Anderson Cooper spoke with Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio tonight, while Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski hosted Trump. The candidates proposed several policy changes and discussed the state of their race, as well as the Democratic Presidential primary election.

Read our recap below, then vote in our poll for your winner.

National Security/Foreign Policy

In the wake of the government’s inability to crack the San Bernandino shooters’ cell phones, Carson called for phone manufacturers’ cooperation with the government:

Cruz forcefully echoed the sentiment, as did Trump:

Rubio stated he didn’t “have a magic solution” to the issue:

Trump also announced at his event that he would be naming his prospective foreign policy team in a matter of weeks:

Interestingly, Trump softened on his China tariff proposals, and committed to neutrality on the Israel-Palestine situation:

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Cruz and Rubio condemned the President’s visit to a “non-free” Cuba:

He also opposed lowering standards for women in combat roles, and advocated a stronger vetting process for would-be Syrian refugees:

Cruz called the idea of drafting women a “Rod Serling” moment, invoking the creator of The Twilight Zone:

Supreme Court

Carson said he would not have a set of questions for potential Supreme Court justices, saying that their lives would be the litmus test by which he could find out their values, invoking Matthew 7:20 (“By their fruits ye shall know them.”)

Trump said that DC v. Heller, which defined Second Amendment rights as individual rather than collective, would be his litmus test:

Carson echoed his support for gun rights:

Rubio advocated a delay in nominating a new justice until the new President took office:

Faith

Asked by an audience member about Christian concern for “the least of these” and its conflict with mainstream GOP values, Carson cited his record working privately with the poor and said that it was not Christian at all to encourage dependency, as the government currently does.

Rubio said his domestic policy would put families first, as families promote the values that make a great nation.

Qualifications/Character

Cooper jokingly asked Carson whether politics was harder than brain surgery:

Asked about his qualifications for President, Carson denounced Washington insiders creating the perception that only politicians can solve problems, and likened his job as a hospital department head at Johns Hopkins to the Presidency, citing the need to make quick, difficult decisions based on rapidly changing information:

Trump had a memorable answer to a question about the distinction between boldness and incivility:

Rubio played up his endorsement by South Carolina governor Nikki Haley:

Criminal Justice

Carson lamented the “throwing away” of people in the prison system and noted the cost in welfare and lost economic productivity that imprisoning people represented:

Rubio touched on criminal justice as part of a larger point on race relations:

Economic Policy & Spending

Trump proposed cutting the Department of Education to limit government spending, but committed himself to current entitlement programs.

Rubio proposed an alternative accreditation model allowing for federal aid for online courses like Udacity in order to help working people get a better education:

The Democrats

Carson said he “would relish” the chance to run against either of the Democratic candidates, while Trump said he’d “rather beat” Clinton but feels Sanders would be easier:

Trump, however, admitted similarities with Sanders:

Rubio reiterated his belief that Obama has been a “failed President:”

Cruz said he “can’t wait” to meet Sanders or Clinton on the debate stage.

Each Other

Rubio didn’t back down from calling Cruz a liar:

For his part, Cruz said he “laughed out loud” at a cease-and-desist from Trump:

Cruz also attacked Jeb Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, saying he should have been impeached for actions leading up to the Iraq War:

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