Immigration, trade and Cuban foreign policy are just a few topics analysts expect candidates to discuss during Thursday’s GOP debate.
Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz will take the debate stage 7:30 p.m. Central Time on the University of Miami’s campus. The debate will be moderated by “The Lead” host Jake Tapper, CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash, radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt and Washington Post journalist Stephen Dinan.
Kirby Goidel, a fellow at the Public Policy Research Institute and communication professor, said it is key for the candidates to target Trump and attack him adamantly. If Cruz or Rubio want a shot at winning Florida they have to go after him, said Goidel.
“It looks like in Florida the numbers are tightening for him and I think knocking [Trump] off track is key to the other candidates’ strategy,” Goidel said.
David Isenhour, petroleum engineering junior and treasurer of Texas A&M College Republicans said all eyes will be on Rubio as he enters a pivotal time for his campaign.
“In my personal opinion, Marco Rubio has the most to gain and to lose from the debate because of the larger spread between Rubio and Trump in Florida than there is between Kasich and Trump in Ohio,” Isenhour said.
Rubio has to perform at the debate to win in Florida, otherwise it will be much harder for Rubio to maintain legitimacy as a candidate from here on, Isenhour said. Winning Florida is the make or break moment for his campaign, Isenhour said.
“This is Rubio’s equivalent of Cruz’s Texas, if a candidate can’t win their own state it is a nail in the coffin for almost any political campaign,” Isenhour said. “Throughout history almost no political candidate has lost their home state.”
Finance sophomore Barrett Sawyers is an undecided Republican voter who has been following the debates. Sawyers said he expects Trump to continue being a bully to the other candidates because he knows that is what is appealing to the people.
“People are generally just looking for someone to be real and I think he appeals to that crowd,” Sawyers said.
Goidel said for the majority of Trump’s  campaign his polling numbers have been climbing, but those numbers have recently started to decline.
“If he is watching the pre-polling numbers then he has to know that it appears he is being pushed right now,” Goidel said. “Potentially the race is beginning to flip, and this is the first time we will see him in this position, this entire campaign he has been on the rise.”