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This article analyzes the central themes of the Republican presidential debate held on September 16, 2015, and how the moderators and candidates engaged with each subject and each other.

Segments

The September Republican presidential debate featured 27 unique segments touching on a range of political, domestic, foreign policy and national security issues. These segments were measured by any shift in the discussion prompted by one of the moderators:Dana Bash,Hugh Hewitt andJake Tapper.

Overall participation

Participation in a segment was defined by a substantive comment related to the segment's topic. Jokes and attempts to gain permission from a moderator to speak were not considered participatory speech acts. In some instances, candidates who participated in a segment diverted from the prompted topic.

Donald Trump spoke on the greatest number of topics, participating in 17 different segments.Carly Fiorina andJeb Bush followed with 15 segments and 14 segments, respectively.Ben Carson,Ted Cruz,Mike Huckabee andScott Walker spoke on the fewest subjects, engaging in only 10 segments each.

Candidate participation by segment vs. time

Source:CNN

The amount of time a candidate spoke did not necessarily reflect the breadth of his or her contributions to the debate. For example,Ben Carson spoke for 12.5 minutes in 10 different segments.Scott Walker, by comparison, spoke 4.5 minutes less than Carson did and covered the same number of segments.

Candidate participation by behavior

Participation in the debate was also measured by the candidate's behavior during each segment. This study considered whether a candidate was initially prompted to speak during a segment by a moderator or whether he or she independently engaged in the segment by interrupting another candidate or calling on the moderator for permission to speak.

Carly Fiorina attempted to interject herself into seven different segments before a moderator could prompt her.Ted Cruz was the only candidate who never engaged in a segment without first being prompted by a moderator.

Donald Trump received the most attention from the moderators, participating in 15 segments as a result of their prompting. The moderators attempted to engageScott Walker the least, only prompting him to join a segment's discussion six times.

Segments by participation

Aside from introductions and the final three questions asked of all candidates, the segment on military leadership had the most participants, with all Republican presidential candidates except forTed Cruz participating. Immigration reform was the second most discussed topic with seven candidates weighing in.

The segments on the Iran nuclear deal, religious liberty, the importance of foreign policy knowledge and Social Security featured the fewest candidate voices with only two each.

Moderator prompts

Of the 27 topical segments, 17 were prompted with a question from a moderator asking one candidate to comment on another candidate's position. For example,Jake Tapper's first question following the candidates' introductions called onCarly Fiorina to speak toDonald Trump's temperament and whether she would "feel comfortable" with his "finger on the nuclear codes."

A total of six segment prompts related to a position or statement by Trump.Chris Christie,Ted Cruz, andCarly Fiorina each had two segment prompts focused on one of their positions.Jeb Bush,Ben Carson,John Kasich,Marco Rubio, andScott Walker were each featured in one subject prompt. NeitherMike Huckabee norRand Paul had policy positions used to introduce any segments.

Candidate analysis

Word cloud of Jeb Bush's speech during the debate

Candidate:Jeb Bush Speaking time: 15.3 min Number of words: 3,937 Most commonly used words: Need: 25 People: 23 State: 19 World: 18 Create: 14

Word cloud of Ben Carson's speech during the debate

Candidate:Ben Carson Speaking time: 12.5 min Number of words: 2,320 Most commonly used words: People: 21 Thing: 18 Know: 14 Think: 13 Well: 12

Word cloud of Chris Christie's speech during the debate

Candidate:Chris Christie Speaking time: 12.3 min Number of words: 2,756 Most commonly used words: Need: 21 People: 20 President: 16 Know: 15 New: 12

Word cloud of Ted Cruz's speech during the debate

Candidate:Ted Cruz Speaking time: 11 min Number of words: 2,008 Most commonly used words: Court: 14 President: 13 Well: 11 United: 11 State: 11

Word cloud of Carly Fiorina's speech during the debate

Candidate:Carly Fiorina Speaking time: 13 min Number of words: 2,553 Most commonly used words: Nation: 18 Know: 17 People: 14 Talk: 14 Think: 12

Word cloud of Mike Huckabee's speech during the debate

Candidate:Mike Huckabee Speaking time: 9.3 min Number of words: 1,912 Most commonly used words: Know: 13 People: 10 Believe: 10 Think: 9 Country: 9

Word cloud of John Kasich's speech during the debate

Candidate:John Kasich Speaking time: 9.5 min Number of words: 2,065 Most commonly used words: People: 16 Know: 13 Think: 12 Want: 12 American: 10

Word cloud of Rand Paul's speech during the debate

Candidate:Rand Paul Speaking time: 10.5 min Number of words: 2,369 Most commonly used words: Think: 29 War: 23 Want: 18 People: 16 Need: 12

Word cloud of Marco Rubio's speech during the debate

Candidate:Marco Rubio Speaking time: 11.5 min Number of words: 2,945 Most commonly used words: Here: 23 People: 22 President: 18 Well: 17 America: 16

Word cloud of Donald Trump's speech during the debate

Candidate:Donald Trump Speaking time: 19.5 min Number of words: 4,327 Most commonly used words: Think: 35 People: 34 Know: 25 Country: 24 Very: 22

Word cloud of Scott Walker's speech during the debate

Candidate:Scott Walker Speaking time: 8 min Number of words: 2,185 Most commonly used words: Need: 17 Talk: 16 People: 16 Back: 13 Jake: 12

See also

• Presidential candidates, 2016
• Presidential election, 2016/Polls
• 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
• Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
• Voters First Republican Presidential Forum: August 3, 2015

v • e 2016 United States Presidential Election Overviews 2016 presidential election •2016 presidential candidates •2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules •2016 vice presidential candidates •Possible vice presidential picks Candidate profiles Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Jill Stein Gary Johnson Path to the presidency Republican Convention •Republican Primary Democratic Convention •Democratic Primary Policy positions Abortion •Defunding Planned Parenthood •Agricultural subsidies •Black Lives Matter movement •Budgets •Education •Energy and environmental policy •Federal assistance programs •Federalism •Foreign affairs •LGBTQ rights •Government regulations •Healthcare •Immigration •DACA and DAPA •International trade •Rural policy •Taxes On the campaign trail Ballotpedia's battleground poll • Campaign preparations • Political and leadership attributes •Presidential campaign trackers and opposition researchers Campaign staff Presidential campaign staff transfers, resignations and terminations •Staff leaks from 2016 presidential campaigns Clinton staffers •O'Malley staffers •Sanders staffers Bush staffers •Carson staffers •Christie staffers •Cruz staffers •Fiorina staffers •Huckabee staffers •Kasich staffers •Paul staffers •Rubio staffers •Santorum staffers •Trump staffers Debates PBS, February 11, 2016 (Milwaukee) •PBS, February 4, 2016 (Durham, N.H.) •NBC News, January 17, 2016 (Charleston, S.C.) •ABC, December 19, 2015 (Manchester, N.H.) •CBS, November 14, 2015 (Des Moines) •CNN, October 13, 2015](Las Vegas) February 13, 2016 (Greenville, S.C.) •ABC, February 6, 2016 (Manchester, N.H.) •Fox News, January 28, 2016 (Des Moines) •Fox Business, January 14, 2016 (North Charleston, S.C.) •CNN, December 15, 2015 (Las Vegas) •Fox Business, November 10, 2015 (Milwaukee) •CNBC, October 28, 2015 (Boulder) •CNN, September 16, 2015 (Reagan Library) •Fox News, August 6, 2015 (Cleveland) Analysis The media's coverage of Donald Trump •The media's coverage of Hillary Clinton Post-debate analysis overview Democratic:April 14, 2016 (CNN) •March 9, 2016 (Univision) •March 6, 2016 (CNN) •February 11, 2016 (PBS) •February 4, 2016 (MSNBC) •January 17, 2016 (NBC) •December 19, 2015 (ABC) •November 14, 2015 (CBS) •October 13, 2015 (CNN) Republican:March 10, 2016 (CNN) •March 3, 2016 (FNC) •February 25, 2016 (CNN) •February 13, 2016 (CBS) •February 6, 2016 (ABC) •January 28, 2016 (FNC) •January 14, 2016 (FBN) •December 15, 2015 (CNN) •November 10, 2015 (FBN) •October 28, 2015 (CNBC) •September 16, 2015 (CNN) Insiders Poll: First Democratic debate (October 13, 2015) •Presidential Nominating Index: Clinton remains choice of Democratic Insiders •Presidential Nominating Index: Bush remains choice of Republican Insiders •Insiders Poll: Winners and losers from the Fox News Republican Debate