WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Thursday evening, the top 10 Republican presidential candidates will hold a debate on Fox News. The candidates were selected based on their standing in five major opinion polls.
“Just ahead of the first official Republican debate of the 2016 presidential campaign, Republicans give Marco Rubio and Scott Walker the highest net favorable ratings among any of the major 16 candidates running for their party's nomination,” the poll read.
Rubio and Walker together scored a net favorable rating of 38 percentage points, followed by former neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 35, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at 33 and former Texas Governor Rick Perry at 32.
In recent weeks, Trump and Bush have taken the lead in many of the latest election polls, while Rubio, Paul and Cruz have had lower approval ratings.
The first primary election for Republican voters is still six months away in New Hampshire, but the first debate on Thursday could set or change popular perceptions of US presidential candidates.
