The 2016 Republican debate season continues Wednesday in Boulder, Colo., with 10 candidates in the main debate. Here are a few graphs to put the 2016 debate schedule in context.
Debate Participation
Some pundits have heavily criticized the hosting TV networks for not allowing all of the major GOP candidates to participate in their primetime debates. To put that in perspective, there has been only one debate with more than 10 candidates — CNN’s September debate with 11. Only four of the 72 debates between 1980-2012 had 10 candidates. The last debate with 10 candidates before this primary cycle was in June 2007.
The 2016 primary cycle also limits the number of debates. The 2012 cycle had the most debates, with 20, while 2008 had 19. The 12 debates planned for the 2016 cycle are roughly in line with 2000’s 13 debates, while the three cycles preceding that all had fewer than eight debates.
Host States
Wednesday will be the first time Colorado has hosted a GOP primary debate. The state has hosted only one Democratic primary debate, in 1992.
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Wisconsin will also host its first-ever GOP debate before the nomination is decided. The Aug. 6 debate was the first time Ohio hosted. Democrats are also hosting a debate in Wisconsin for the first time ever this election cycle.
By the end of the 2016 cycle, New Hampshire will have hosted the most GOP primary debates, with 20, followed by Iowa and South Carolina with 12 each. Combined, those three states account for more than half of all the debates. Sixteen states plus Washington, D.C. have hosted a GOP debate in the past or plan to host one this primary cycle.
Calendar
Each primary cycle seems to start earlier and earlier, although August was a late start relative to the past two GOP cycles. More debates have taken place in October than in November or December, even though those months are closer to the primaries.
Historically, Republicans have held more primary debates in January than in any other month. January 2012 was the most crowded month ever, when there were six debates. Only one debate will take place in January 2016. February will be the most crowded month of the 2016 cycle, with three GOP debates planned.
The latest a Republican primary debate has ever occurred is on April 23, when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush debated in 1980, the only time the debate cycle dragged on into April. There have been only three debates in March, and none since 2000, but two debates are planned for March 2016.
Airtime
At the Sept. 16 GOP debate, Donald Trump spoke for more than twice as long as Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich. Trump spoke for almost 20 minutes in the over three-hour debate. The average was about 12.5 minutes per candidate. Walker spoke the least, getting only eight and half minutes. His campaign ended less than a week later.
Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie each spoke for more than their fair share of time, if you believe each candidate should have had equal time.
On the other hand, if you think higher-polling candidates should get more speaking time, Trump didn’t speak enough, nor did Carson. Every other candidate’s portion of speaking time was larger than his or her share of support. Fiorina, John Kasich and Rand Paul’s portions of speaking time was more than double their portion of support in the post-Aug. 6 national poll average.
The moderators mentioned Trump more than all the other candidates, raising the front-runner’s name 20 times. They mentioned Ronald Reagan nine times and Hillary Clinton just three times.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
