CNBC Undercard Republican Debate: Live Coverage

https://twitter.com/samuelisaac/status/659488014091980801 The answer is that most voters aren’t paying attention to the race right now. These debates provide very little information to them but are important in slimming the field from the 15 (see Perry, Rick and Walker, Scott).

What to watch for in the GOP “undercard”? Here at FiveThirtyEight, we’ll be watching to see when our Chinese delivery food arrives, because our shrimp dumplings have about as much chance of becoming president in 2016 as any of the men on stage … with the possible exception of Bobby Jindal. Yes, Jindal’s a long shot, but he’s polling roughly as well as several of the main-stage candidates in Iowa and with pretty good favorability ratings. But Jindal needs a breakout moment soon because if this “JV” debate is as snoozy as the last one was, one wonders whether the networks will continue to schedule them.