Any senior interested in politics is enjoying an eventful fall, studying up on the 2016 presidential candidates in preparation for their first chance to vote.
However, in this election cycle, the debates have displayed more fanfare and dramatic questions stemming from the moderators than normal. The Republican debate moderators have actually proven to be worse for the party than our orange friend with the outspoken comb over.
The Republican debates were filled with bickering about questionable topics, whereas the Democratic debates had the important substance and issues that primary voters need to decide which candidate they will support.
This however, is not a result of particularly argumentative candidates or diversity in policy, but the moderators’ choice of questions.
Of the four Republican debates so far, moderators from CNN, as well as CNBC, designed questions and debate topics that seemed to directly pit one candidate against another. One example of this was an exchange between CNBC moderator John Harwood and Republican candidate John Kasich.
“You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues,” said John Harwood. “Who were you talking about?”
Questions like this were asked throughout the night of a number of candidates. Ted Cruz, most vocally of the candidates, attacked moderators and the media, stating that the debaters wanted to discuss the important issues.
Not only do these unproductive debates damage the reputation of the Republican Party, as candidates are painted in a negative and argumentative light, they hurt the entire political process. Many citizens rely on debates as their only tool to learn about the opinions and policy ideas of different candidates. When the important ideas that they feel strongly about are simply not addressed by moderators, people have no way of knowing which candidate will really support policy that is right for them.
When this happens, colorful personalities and passion are the only things that voters can use to judge which candidates they support, and a number of candidates that may or may not have solutions to the important problems are passed over.