--- title: Republican Debate: Who Won the Seventh Debate? description: A post-debate poll canonical: https://time.com/4196259/republican-debate-poll-seventh-iowa-fox-news/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-29T03:56:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:56.062Z article:section: Politics og:title: Vote Now: Who Won the Seventh GOP Presidential Debate? og:description: A post-debate poll. og:url: https://time.com/4196259/republican-debate-poll-seventh-iowa-fox-news/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b3bfbf88b2efe2a/69887acb2dce0124f39e7876/debate.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Attendees listen to the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vote Now: Who Won the Seventh GOP Presidential Debate? twitter:description: A post-debate poll. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b3bfbf88b2efe2a/69887acb2dce0124f39e7876/debate.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vote Now: Who Won the Seventh Republican Presidential Debate? > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3f389178-543d-437c-9116-15eb9158cfa6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Republican Debate: Questions Asked of Candidates About Their Responses [Watch (HLS stream): Republican Debate: Questions Asked of Candidates About Their Responses](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/O2act9xE.m3u8) (1:50)  _Published 2016-01-29_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 29, 2016 3:56 AM UTC  Attendees listen to the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Attendees listen to the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 29, 2016 3:56 AM UTC Republicans met for their seventh presidential debate Saturday, and we want to know who you think won. Take a moment to click the link below next to the candidate who you thought did the best at the Fox News debate in Des Moines, Iowa. We’ve gone ahead and included front-runner Donald Trump, who skipped the debate over a conflict with Fox. A disclaimer: Online reader polls like this one are not statistically representative of eligible primary voters. They are a measure, however imprecise, of which candidates have the most energized online supporters, or most social media savvy fan base. After all, what they are counting is the number of Internet-devices controlled by people who want to vote. ## Transcript Here are just a few examples, watch. Never support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket, legalization, amnesty to folks who have entered or stayed in this country illegally. First of all, earned path decision Citizenship is basically code for amnesty is what they call it and in the reality it is this. It is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative pathways for individuals who entered illegally and knowingly did so. You cannot grant amnesty. The American people see as grant amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration that will never again supported. And that's wrong for our country bad for our future Within two years of getting elected, you were cosponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship. In your words, amnesty. haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment. Basically something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time, watch. I want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail, I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics not to campaigning all the time. But to actually fixing this problem. To finding a middle ground that would fix the problem and also allow for those 11 million people who are here illegally a legal status with citizenship off the table. Was that all an act? 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