Fox News leaves many questions unanswered about debate

[Geee]

The Hill :

All eyes are on Fox News with five days to go before the first Republican presidential debate.

 

The clash is set for Thursday in Cleveland, but the network has left much unsaid so far.

 

The cable network has yet to reveal the polls it will use to decide which 10 of the 17 prominent, declared candidates will win a place at a podium for the main 9 p.m. debate. Those who do not make the cut will be consigned to a lower-profile 5 p.m. event.

The polling issue is only one of the topics that are attracting intense attention from campaign operatives and political observers.

 

Among the details that people are obsessing over: the positioning of the candidates on the stage, with contenders at the center generally held to benefit at the expense of those confined to its edges; the question of whether serious efforts will be made to ensure all candidates get equal airtime; and the broader issue of how the three moderators will exercise some control over an encounter that, on paper, looks like it could teeter on the precipice of chaos.

 

And then there’s Donald Trump.

 

When the businessman entered the race on June 16, skeptics thought he would struggle to make the debate stage at all. Instead, he will be its focal point, not only because of his braggadocio but because he is leading in many national polls.

 

Primary debates do not have the arduously-negotiated conditions that apply to general election debates. Much is up in the air.

[Draggingtree]

A Good Thing Messed Up By Pollsters

 

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | August 3rd, 2015 at 08:14 AM

 

I support having the top ten Republicans on the main debate stage. I think if you put all of them on the stage — the 16 to 2000 declared candidates — you learn nothing and accomplish nothing.

 

Fox News (one of my employers) and the RNC deciding to use a polling average and put the top ten in the main event is not a bad idea. It takes subjectivity from the network out and provides a set standard. I do not have a problem with it and when briefed on it a while back supported it.

 

I still do

 

But I think the polling standard can and is in danger of getting hijacked by crap polls.