What to watch at the Iowa Republican presidential primary debate

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

75% : Trump, DeSantis and Haley all met the qualifications.
49% : Trump, as usual, far exceeded the qualifications to participate in the fifth debate of the 2024 primary election, but will again opt to skip the event and hold a Fox News town hall at the same time.
49% : Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley will meet on stage at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday for a head-to-head debate - Donald Trump is skipping and Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie didn't qualifyDrake University's Olmsted Center is the site of the fifth Republican presidential debate.
47% : Haley is only trailing Trump in New Hampshire by four points in one poll released earlier this month, and by 7 percent in a separate poll published on Tuesday.
46% : The showdown on CNN at 9pm will be one of their final plea to voters and their bid to catch up to Donald Trump, who is ahead in the polls on average by a staggering 30 points.
46% : The town hall, where Trump will field questions from the Fox hosts and audience members, will air on Fox News from 9:00PM-10:00PM - the exact same starting time for the debate.
45% : It is the fifth time Trump has decided to snub debating his primary competitors despite meeting the thresholds to take the stage.
45% : Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy did not qualify for the debate - and will be holding on Wednesday night a live audience show of the Tim Pool podcast along with an after party at his Iowa campaign headquartersA new poll published on Tuesday in New Hampshire puts Nikki Haley only 7 points behind Donald TrumpPOLLING AHEAD OF DEBATE DAYDeSantis is still in second place and is trailing Trump by dozens of points.
37% : With 18.4 percent in the average, DeSantis is in a distance second place after polls over the summer showed him separated from Trump by around 20 points - rather than the current 32 percent gap.
18% : Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are the only two candidates who qualified and agreed to debateTrump is not participating in the debate, and will instead engage in a town hall with Fox News at the same time as the showdown between his top competitorsDEBATE THRESHOLDS AND WHO QUALIFIEDThe qualifying window for CNN's debate in Iowa closed on Tuesday.
13% : DeSantis insists Trump is refusing to appear because he doesn't want to answer for his record and instead wants to attempt to steal the spotlight from his competition.

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