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3 key questions for fourth Republican presidential debate

Debate will be held Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT

Republican presidential candidates from left, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., participate in a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NBC News Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) (Rebecca Blackwell, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Believe it or not, we are only six weeks away from the first big event of the 2024 presidential election.

The Iowa caucuses are on the horizon on Jan. 15, which is the initial election to kick off the primary season.

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Given that, Wednesday will be an important time for four Republican candidates when the fourth debate of the election cycle takes place in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It will be held from 8 to 10 p.m. ET.

Here are three key questions surrounding the debate.

1. Who will participate?

The number of participants at these debates continues to dwindle, with four candidates qualifying to be on stage this time, down from seven at the second debate and five from the third debate. The candidates who will participate are:

  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
  • Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
  • Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
  • Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy

Since the last debate, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum have dropped out of the race.

2. Where will Donald Trump be?

As he has the previous three debates, the Republican frontrunner and former president will not participate.

Trump will instead be in Florida for a political action committee fundraising event. Trump on average is polling at nearly 60%, according to 538. That figure is miles ahead of DeSantis (13%) and Haley (10.5%).

3. Is there any hope at all for a candidate not named Trump?

More so than ever, it doesn’t look like it, despite the legal issues Trump is battling.

Not only are none of the candidates who will be on the debate stage polling well, but another candidate many wealthy Republicans donors were set to get behind has all but faded out of the picture for good, at least for 2024.

Prominent Republican donors spent much of the summer and fall trying to woo Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin into the race, and it was thought that Youngkin could enter if he helped Republicans take control of both the House of Delegates and Senate in Virginia.

But that didn’t happen, as Democrats finished election night with a narrow majority in both. Since then, any talk about Youngkin entering the race has pretty much gone silent.

With all that in mind, it’s looking pretty much like a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden in the general election.


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