Republican debate highlights and analysis: Candidates squabble in Simi Valley

Asked about the challenges of high health care costs for Americans, Haley argued that the system needs a major overhaul, from the insurance companies to hospitals, with improved transparency for patients so they have more options and better knowledge of the costs they'll face. Still, this issue isn't as high on Republicans' list of key issues. In a recent Economist/YouGov survey, 58 percent of Republicans said "heath care" was a very important issue. That sounds high, but 81 percent said the same of jobs and the economy, 81 percent of national security and 77 percent of immigration. It's not the 2010 tea party era anymore, or even 2017, when the GOP failed to get rid of Obamacare while in full control of the government.

— Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538

In polling for EdChoice conducted by Morning Consult in August, 46 percent of Republicans strongly or somewhat support school vouchers, while 11 percent strongly or somewhat oppose vouchers, 27 percent say they have never heard of them, and 16 percent don’t know. After being provided a definition, support for vouchers among Republicans increased to 70 percent, and opposition increased to 19 percent.
—Analysis by 538

When Stuart Varney pressed DeSantis on the relatively high number of Floridians without insurance — Varney said 2.6 million — DeSantis blamed Washington.

“I think this is a symptom of our overall economic decline,” DeSantis said.

But the numbers from DeSantis’s own Florida Department of Health don’t show any correlation between the state of the economy and the number of Floridians without health care.

Despite population growth, and despite changes in the economy, Florida has more than 2.5 million people without health insurance at least since 2012, according to Florida Department of Health Data.

The total number of uninsured Floridians has remained relatively stable since 2018, according to the state.
-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact

Before the first break, we saw a debate about a sensitive issue on the trail devolve into a heated back-and-forth where Ramaswamy and Scott -- who usually maintains a cheery disposition on the trail and stage – were at each other’s throats.

In calling for ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants in the United States, Ramaswamy invoked the 14th Amendment – which bestows the rights of citizenship on all who were born in the country, including freed slaves.

“Now the left will howl about the Constitution and the 14th Amendment. The difference between me and them is I've actually read the 14th Amendment. What it says is that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the laws and jurisdiction thereof are citizens,” Ramaswamy said.

Scott countered Ramaswamy's argument, noting that the clause had to do with slavery, not illegal immigration.

“I think it's simple that clearly it was designed for slavery and not for illegal immigration,” said Scott. Scott then pivoted to saying that Ramaswamy, who said during the last debate that the other candidates were ‘bought and paid for,’ was “just in business with the Chinese communist party. The exchange devolved into a heated back-and-forth, with Ramaswamy at one point interjecting, “thank you for speaking while I’m speaking.”

-ABC News' Isabella Murray and Oren Oppenheim