CNN will purposely turn the GOP debate into a brawl

CNN hosts the Republican presidential candidate debate in 2012.

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

published 15 September 2015

If CNN has its way, the second GOP debate will be much more combative and confrontational than the first. While Fox News was praised for asking candidates tough questions and forcing them to outline their positions in the first debate, candidates rarely spoke to one another. In the second debate, which will air on CNN, the network hopes to highlight "candidate interaction above all else," The New York Times reports.

"My goal is more about: let's draw the contrasts between the candidates and have them fight it out over these policies, over who has the best approach to Putin, over who has the best approach to taxes, over who believes what over immigration report," debate host Jake Tapper, CNN's chief Washington correspondent, told The New York Times. "Have them lay it all out so voters can see it." Tapper explained that he will phrase questions in such a way that "Senator X will respond to what Governor Y said about him or a policy he proposed," encouraging candidates to face off as much as possible.