Race to Presidency: Fact-checking the Republican presidential debate

On Jan. 14, Fox News hosted the sixth Republican presidential debate for the top-tier candidates – Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Ben Carson. The following statements were made by the presidential candidates during the debate, and the verdicts were decided upon by The Current staff after heavy research of reputable sources. Full transcripts of the debate can be found online at cbsnews.com, memeorandum.com, time.com, and more.

• “Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he [Barack Obama] ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, “These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion.” That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this.”—Marco Rubio, on gun legislation
  • According to the transcript of Obama’s statement from a fundraiser in San Francisco on April 6, 2008, he stated, “…And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” The statement was in reference to small-town Pennsylvania
    • VERDICT: Obama did say the gist of the statement, but he did not make the comment exclusive to ‘Americans’ with ‘traditional values.’ By including these two terms in his statement, Rubio made the comment sound more anti-Republican than how the President originally intended.
  • “We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated and the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country.”—Ted Cruz, on the economy
    • According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of people aged 16 and over in the labor force was 62.7 percent in 1977 62.6 percent in 2015. As reported by the Social Security Administration, however, the median wages have not stagnated. Aside from a negative change in median wages in 2009, there has been an increase in median wage amounts since 1991. Since 2010, the median wages have increased from $26,363.55 to $28,851.21 in 2014.
    • VERDICT: Although Cruz was correct about 2015 having the lowest ratio of Americans working since 1977, the actual difference is only 0.1 percent, which may be due to various reasons – economically and demographically. The median wages, on the other hand, have not stagnated and have gradually increased.
  • “Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He’s a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore’s lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He’s a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there’s a reason why Hillary’s supporters are echoing Donald’s attacks on me, because Hillary wants to face Donald Trump in the general election.”—Ted Cruz, on Trump’s accusation that Cruz is not a legally natural-born citizen
    • In his biography on Harvard University’s website, it is stated that Tribe has taught at Harvard’s law school since 1968, and he was appointed by President Obama and General Holder to serve as the first Senior Counselor for Access to Justice in 2010. Tribe helped found the American Constitution Society – a liberal legal organization – in 2001. In the 2000 legal case Bush vs. Gore, Tribe served on Gore’s legal team, but did not argue the case at the Supreme Court. When it comes to Hillary Clinton, Tribe has declared his support for Obama, as he was his professor at Harvard, but he has not formally declared his support for Clinton.
    • VERDICT: Mostly true. Tribe does demonstrate liberal views, is a Harvard law professor and spoke in favor of Gore, but he is not an official supporter of Clinton.
  • “And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I’m beating you. So, you know, you shouldn’t misrepresent how well you’re doing with the polls.”—Donald Trump, in response to Cruz’s statement that his numbers are increasing while Trump’s decrease
    • In a survey released by Quinnipiac University on Jan. 11, a reported 31 percent of Republicans would vote in favor for Trump, as opposed to 29 percent in favor of Cruz. Trump has led the past three polls by the University, with 28 percent in favor on Dec. 14 and 25 percent in favor on Nov. 24. Cruz, on the other hand, has favors of 27 percent on Dec. 14 and 23 percent on Nov. 24.
    • VERDICT:
  • “Look, I have an A-plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you’re going away. You’re going away for a long, long while.”—Jeb Bush, on gun control
    • According to a Crime in Florida report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for Jan. to June 2015, the followings statistics for firearms have been reported: murders with firearms increased from 336 in 2014 to 356 in 2015, forcible rapes with firearms decreased from 80 in 2014 to 67 in 2015, forcible fondling with firearms stayed the same with 3 in 2014 and 2015, robberies with firearms increased from 4,021 in 2014 to 4,073 in 2015, and aggravated assaults with firearms increased from 7,341 in 2014 to 8,265 in 2015.
    • VERDICT: Aside from the number of forcible rapes and fondling, the number of crimes that occur in the state of Florida with firearms have increased in the past year.
  • “When you [Barack Obama] became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country, and now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we’ve had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors.”—Chris Christie, on Barack Obama
    • According to The New York Times, there were 21 Republican governors and 29 Democratic governors when Obama was originally elected in 2008. As of 2016, there are 31 Republican governors and 19 Democratic governors.
    • VERDICT:
  • “I’ve done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the—than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs.”—John Kasich, on the economy
    • The minimum wage in Ohio is $8.10 for workers 16 and older who are employed by businesses with annual gross receipts of at least $297,000. Workers of smaller companies, and who are younger than 16, make $7.25 – the federal minimum wage. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the past year, Ohio has seen a job growth of 5,479.40 jobs for total nonfarm occupations.
    • VERDICT: Partly true. The wages are higher than the national average, but Kasich was not specific as to what the timeframe is for his projected job growth rate. If he meant it for the past year, the verdict would be false, but as he was unclear, the verdict cannot be determined in that respect.
  • “In the two hours of this – of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair.”—Ben Carson, in his final statement
    • According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 25,000 people died in 2014 due to overdosing on prescription drugs, which would be approximately 5 people every two hours. According to the National Debt Clock, approximately $100,000 is added to the national debt every 10 seconds, which would be approximately $72 million every two hours. The Guttmacher Institute reported that in 2008, roughly 3,322 abortions were conducted a day, which would be over 200 abortions within a two-hour time frame. A 2015 report by the LA Times stated 22 veterans commit suicide every day in the U.S., or about two veterans within two hours.
    • VERDICT: True.