What do voters know after 4 Republican debates? Top takeaways from the GOP fights

The 2024 presidential race has taken aim at conventional political wisdom and raised a question for voters: Do candidate debates still matter?

Former President Donald Trump, the longtime Republican frontrunner, ignored his GOP opponents and refused to participate in the four Republican primary debates held during 2023. The move didn't appear to provoke a backlash from voters, at least according to polls.

And even as the Republican field has shrunk, Trump's challengers seemed resigned to his dominance. For the first three debates of the year, the other GOP candidates were mostly unwilling to attack Trump for fear of alienating his supporters.

"We've had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us," former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said during the fourth debate, which also included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. "The fifth guy who doesn't have the guts to show up and stand here, he's the one who is ... way ahead in the polls."

DeSantis, long thought of as Trump's chief rival, has been more willing to hit out at Trump lately, accusing the former president of "cowardice" for refusing to show up to the debate stage.

But with the clock ticking ahead of the first GOP primaries and caucuses, it may be too late for Republicans to dare Trump to go head to head against them. Here's what we know after four primary debates − and as 2024 quickly approaches.

Donald Trump's absence overshadowed the debates

A frontrunner has never snubbed their own political party the way Trump has refused to cooperate with the Republican National Committee in the early stages of the 2024 cycle.

Instead of attending the RNC's debates, he has often held a separate event to compete with its primetime programing slot to further underscore his star power. Experts say the decision to skip the debates is unprecedented in modern politics, but the counterprogramming also robbed other GOP contenders −namely DeSantis − of a chance to contrast themselves with the former president.

"I think it's indicative of Trump's sense that he doesn't need the debates and that if anything, they would hurt him," Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, told USA TODAY.

"And he seems to have been correct in that assessment, at least so far," Dallek added.

Poll after poll has shown that refusing to join the debates hasn't hurt Trump much, even after being mocked by rivals for not participating. A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll shows his support has ballooned in Iowa to 51% support among likely GOP caucusgoers.

Nikki Haley gained momentum, but will it be enough?

The 2024 debates have mattered in terms of helping a candidate climb out of the polling pit to distinguish themselves in the race.

None did that more than Haley, who showed a rhetorical athleticism during the at-times deeply personal clashes. Those performances helped Haley, the only woman on the GOP side, surge from single-digit support to being viewed as better than Trump in a match up against President Joe Biden in some general election surveys.

Whether it was flexing her views as a national security hawk or explaining the folly of seeking a national abortion ban in Congress, Haley has carved out space as the traditional conservative voice in the Trump era, Dallek said.

"Haley, I think, by maintaining her status as an independent, not crazy, not radical, she has shown signs that if she were to win the nomination, she could put together a pretty substantial potential coalition in the general election in a way that maybe no one else could," he said.

A question remains for Haley: Can she loosen Trump's grip in early voting states, including her home state of South Carolina?

National abortion ban vs. state-level restrictions

One of the most revealing issues in the GOP debates was how the candidates differed on abortion, which has vexed Republicans in the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Seven states have tackled reproductive rights questions through ballot referendums since the summer of 2022, and abortion rights activists have won each of those contests.

When asked, the Republican presidential hopefuls have all said they oppose abortion rights. But dividing lines still emerged on what exemptions should be allowed, or whether Republicans should pursue a national ban on the procedure.

In the very first debate, Haley called for Republicans to look at the current political climate, citing a lack of 60 votes in the Senate to pass a national abortion ban. Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence cast abortion as a "moral issue" with no room for compromise.

"Now that Roe is gone, we found out what pro-life means to people is probably about six different things," Liz Mair, a former RNC spokeswoman, told USA TODAY, referencing advocates opposed to abortion.

The candidates with the most evangelical leanings on the subject, namely Pence and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., have dropped out, which means the GOP debate has orbited mostly around whether a 6-week or 15-week ban at the state level is more appropriate.

More debates, fewer viewers

If you use TV ratings as a yardstick, the country appeared to care less with each primary debate.

Roughly 12.8 million watched the first debate, broadcast on Fox News and Fox Business.

About 9.5 million tuned in across Fox News, Fox Business and Univision for the second, and approximately 7.5 million caught the third debate on NBC and its digital platforms.

For the fourth? About 4.1 million watched when it was hosted by the cable news network NewsNation.

Ramaswamy vs. everyone

Scum. Obnoxious. Blowhard.

Those are some of the choice words Republican rivals have used to describe Vivek Ramaswamy, whose brash style and digital footprint has gained the 38-year-old political newcomer widespread attention.

Ramaswamy styles himself as Trump 2.0 in this primary, and, much like the former president, he relishes targeting the political and media establishment with his libertarian-leaning worldview.

At the last debate, Ramaswamy aired a conspiracy theory when he suggested the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol could be a "inside job," which was praised by one of the rioters.

Mair said most GOP voters don't take the Ohio Republican seriously as someone who could be the nominee in 2024, but he functions as someone who makes Trump seem more reasonable in some minds.

"Vivek Ramaswamy is probably the most unappealing person to run for president in my lifetime," she said. "But there are a lot of people who are 'Never Trumpers' who when you present them with Vivek suddenly start warming up to Trump quite a lot."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump's absence, Nikki Haley's rise: 5 GOP debate takeaways