The first 2024 GOP presidential debate will be held Wednesday night, but it will be missing one noticeable candidate: former President Donald Trump. So how much power do these debates hold in the day and age of social media?
According to SMU political science professor Cal Jillson, social media and the 24-hour news cycle only enhance the impact of televised debates.
"If you're looking at the news today, you'll see all kinds of what to expect stories, what each candidate needs to do to prevail in the debate, who's likely to attack who, all that kind of stuff people see before they watch the debate," Jillson said. "And then the second-day stories. Who won? What were the best one-liners? Did anybody displace (Ron) DeSantis? All of that is discussed in the days following the debate, so it's really a period than a single event."
Despite Trump's absence not allowing other candidates to engage with him, Jillson said the former president not being there provides a different type of opportunity for these candidates.
"It frees them to be more sustenance, to look at policy positions they have, as well as attack DeSantis who they believe is the principal challenger to Trump now, they would all like to be number two, challenging Trump," Jillson said. "So there are ways to make gains in this debate tonight."
Jillson said a way for these candidates to make gains with Texas voters would be to talk about issues that matter to them like border control and the economy. He also said many Texans are upset that former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd would not be in Wednesday night's debate.
While Trump's absence may be providing opportunities for candidates, Jillson said it's not a positive for the Republican party. Trump has decided to release an Interview with Tucker Carlson while the debate is going on, which will pull viewers from the event.
"For the Republican party it is certainly a problem because they want maximum viewership, they want to show their wares to the public and not having their main candidate is a problem for the party itself," Jillson said.
As of Wednesday, Trump had a big lead in the polls and the second-closest to him was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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