The fifth Republican presidential primary debate is in the books. Let’s take a look at who got the most speaking time:
For the second straight debate, Ted Cruz got the most speaking time with more than 16 minutes. In past debates, Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina have had the most speaking time.
Cruz got 16 percent of the total speaking time. Donald Trump started slow, but ended in second with more than 13 percent of speaking time. Despite being second in the polls, Ben Carson spoke for just 10.3 minutes, well below the average of 11.4 minutes.
Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio all 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, Trump and Carson did not speak enough. For example, Trump averages 28 percent in the polls used for the debate, but he got only 13.4 percent of the speaking time.
Besides Trump and Carson, every other candidate’s portion of speaking time was close to or larger than his or her share of support. Chris Christie had the largest gap between speaking portion and polls, speaking for 10.2 percent of the debate but earning only 2.7 percent in the polls.
Terrorism was obviously the main subject of the GOP debate; it was raised 86 times. Each candidate said “terrorism” at least once. Ted Cruz mentioned it most with 16 mentions, followed by Trump with 15.
The Islamic State was also a major subject, with 51 mentions — at least one from every candidate. Cruz again brought it up most often, with 16 mentions.
Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic candidate, was mentioned somewhat often, but not on the same level as the Islamic State or terrorism. She was mentioned on 28 occasions, with Ben Carson the only candidate not calling her by name. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina attacked her most often, with six mentions. Jeb Bush and Rubio mentioned Clinton five times each.
Although mentioned 150 different times in the first six GOP and Democratic debates, taxes were mentioned only once in the debate Tuesday, by Rubio.
The undercard debate featured a new combination of candidates. It was the first undercard debate since Bobby Jindal dropped out of the race. Mike Huckabee was in the undercard debate for the second time. Lindsey Graham and George Pataki were not invited to the last undercard debate, but were invited to this one.
Fewer than three minutes separated the speakers with the most and least speaking time. Contrast that with the Sept. 17 undercard debate, where Lindsey Graham spoke for almost 10 more minutes more than George Pataki.
Of the 13 candidates who participated in either debate Tuesday, Lindsey Graham actually had the most speaking time, with 18.6 minutes. Huckabee and Pataki also spoke longer in the undercard debate than Cruz did in the main debate.
Combined, the four candidates got over an hour and eight minutes to speak at the debate, 20 minutes longer than in the Nov. 10 undercard debate.
Terrorism was the main topic at the undercard debate, mentioned 55 times. Moderators brought it up most often with 18 mentions, followed by Graham with 15.
The Islamic State was mentioned 29 times in the undercard, with 11 mentions by Pataki.
Even though he wasn’t in the undercard debate, Trump was mentioned more often than in the main debate. Nine of the 21 mentions at the undercard came from the moderators.
Clinton was mentioned only 13 times in the undercard debate, with eight of those coming from Pataki.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
