The second Republican presidential primary debate is in the books. Let’s take a look at who got the most speaking time:
Donald Trump spoke for more than twice as long as Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich did. Trump spoke for almost 20 minutes in the over three-hour debate. Walker spoke the least, getting only eight and half minutes. The average was about 12.5 minutes per candidate.
Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and Chris Christie 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 have gotten more speaking time, Donald Trump didn’t speak enough, nor did Ben 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.
How often did the candidates say “Trump,” “Reagan” or “Hillary Clinton”? Jeb Bush mentioned the three buzzwords most often, bringing them up a combined 15 times. Seven of those mentions were of Trump.
Walker mentioned Ronald Reagan seven times, the most of any candidate.
Trump, Carson and Huckabee each mentioned a buzzword only once. Trump’s single buzzword use was on his own name.
The moderators mentioned Trump more than all the other candidates, bringing him up 20 times. They mentioned Ronald Reagan nine times and Hillary Clinton three times.
In the early debate, Lindsey Graham spoke for 20 minutes in the hour-and-a-half-long debate. George Pataki spoke for almost half as long, at just under 11 minutes. Only Graham received more than his fair share of speaking time, if you believe each candidate should have had equal time. Santorum would have had precisely his fair share, while both Jindal and Pataki had less than their fair share.
Moderators used the most buzzwords in the early debate. They mentioned Donald Trump nine times, and were roundly criticized for invoking his name so often. Of the four candidates, Lindsey Graham mentioned the three buzzwords most. He said Hillary Clinton five times and Ronald Reagan four times, without once mentioning Donald Trump. Every candidate in the early debate mentioned Hillary Clinton at least once.
