What Went Down At The CNN Republican Debate

Has “Obamacare” really led companies to cut back workers’ hours, as Marco Rubio said? Perhaps, but the effect has been very small. Virtually all of the employment growth during the recovery has been full-time; part-time employment is basically flat. But the so-called employer mandate, which requires most companies to offer health insurance to anyone working at least 30 hours a week, seems to have led employers to cut the hours of workers who are already near the 30-hour cutoff. A year ago, I estimated the cuts affected a few hundred thousand people, small in the context of millions of total jobs. But the people affected are disproportionately low-wage workers and women.

Some of his blows have landed better than others, but another reason why it’s been smart for Rubio to attack Trump is simply because Rubio has made himself the focal point for the Trump opposition: a way out of the game-theoretical trap Republicans have found themselves in throughout the campaign where there’s been no clear Trump alternative even when polls suggest Trump would be vulnerable one-on-one.

Just 6 percent of Republican voters in an October Quinnipiac poll said it was the most important issue in their vote for president. The economy is of far greater importance.