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Both domestic and foreign affairs played a role in the Democrats' last presidential debate of 2015. The event held in Manchester, New Hampshire, started with an apology from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton after his campaign committed a data breach involving private voter information from Clinton’s campaign. Clinton accepted Sanders’ apology. Tensions then built over the issue of national security with Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley saying Clinton is too quick in favor of regime change , including of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Clinton said Sanders is guilty of the same thing. “With all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya.” All candidates agreed that Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. is harmful. O’Malley referred to Trump’s remarks as “fascist” while Clinton said, "He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists." But Jon Greenberg, Politifact’s fact checker, said so far he has not seen any ISIS videos featuring Trump. The three Democrats discussed raising the minimum wage and America’s shrinking middle class. They sparred over how to pay for programs like paid family leave, which pays individuals for a period of time to take care of sick family members and after they have a baby. While Clinton said she would not raise taxes on the middle class , Sanders said he supports a small payroll tax hike on all workers to fund family leave. Though most polls show Clinton leading by more than 20 percentage points nationally, the race remains close between Clinton and Sanders in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.Vocab
fact checker – person or organization that checks statements for their accuracy
primary election – the process for choosing state party delegates for the national convention who will eventually nominate the Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidency, either through a caucus or a primary election
Warm up questions
- Have you watched any of the Democratic or Republican presidential debates?
- What are some advantages and disadvantage of live debates for the candidates?
- What issues are important to Democrats? What issues are important to Republicans?
- Why do you think Hillary Clinton’s lead is so significant out of the three Democratic candidates?
Critical thinking questions
- Why do you think the Democratic debates have not drawn the large number of viewers that the Republican debates have?
- Do you agree with the Democratic candidates and some of the Republican candidates that Trump’s remarks have been harmful to Arab-America relations and offensive to Muslims? Explain.
- At this point, who do you think is going to be the next president in 2016? Explain your answer.
