--- title: Republican Debate: Who Won Social Media at the CNN Debate description: Trump was once again the most talked about candidate on Twitter canonical: https://time.com/4151015/fifth-debate-social-media/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T04:53:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:25:04.858Z article:section: Politics og:title: Who Won the Social Media Debate at the Republican Debate og:description: Trump was once again the most talked about candidate on Twitter. og:url: https://time.com/4151015/fifth-debate-social-media/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1870606b0f189fc/6988758ecd1bba28676fe8d7/republican-debate-gop-presidential-031.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Who Won the Social Media Debate at the Republican Debate twitter:description: Trump was once again the most talked about candidate on Twitter. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1870606b0f189fc/6988758ecd1bba28676fe8d7/republican-debate-gop-presidential-031.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Who Won on Social Media During Tuesday's Republican Debate by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 16, 2015 4:53 AM CUT  Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, gestures during the Republican Presidential Debate on Dec. 15, 2015 in Las Vegas. Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, gestures during the Republican Presidential Debate on Dec. 15, 2015 in Las Vegas.Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Dec 16, 2015 4:53 AM CUT A heated exchange between Republican front-runner [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4150989/republican-debate-donald-trump-gop/?xid=homepage "undefined") and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was the top moment on social media during [Tuesday’s CNN debate](http://time.com/4149585/republican-debate-donald-trump-ted-cruz-jeb-bush-cnn/?xid=homepage "undefined"). The top moment came when the two candidates sparred over Trump’s [ability to handle matters of foreign policy](http://time.com/4150854/republican-debate-donald-trump-jeb-bush-muslims/ "undefined"), with both Facebook and Twitter users making it the top moment of the night. > [](https://twitter.com/gov/status/676981193708015617) > [](https://twitter.com/gov/status/676981424860356612) Once again Trump was the [most talked about candidate on Twitte](http://time.com/4150216/republican-debate-donald-trump-twitter/ "undefined")r, with 35% of mentions, and was the most discussed on Facebook on Tuesday. On Twitter, Bush followed in second, with Cruz, Rubio and Carson behind him. While Facebook users had Cruz in second and Bush and Rubio tied for third. The most posted about topic on Facebook was Islam, followed by ISIS, terrorism, racial discrimination and immigration. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4151015/fifth-debate-social-media/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4151015/fifth-debate-social-media/"},"headline":"Here's Who Won on Social Media During Tuesday's Republican Debate","datePublished":"2015-12-16T04:53:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:25:04.858Z","description":"Trump was once again the most talked about candidate on Twitter","url":"https://time.com/4151015/fifth-debate-social-media/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election topic","jeb bush","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1870606b0f189fc/6988758ecd1bba28676fe8d7/republican-debate-gop-presidential-031.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1870606b0f189fc/6988758ecd1bba28676fe8d7/republican-debate-gop-presidential-031.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE","caption":"Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, gestures during the Republican Presidential Debate on Dec. 15, 2015 in Las Vegas.","creditText":"Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4151015/fifth-debate-social-media/","name":"Here's Who Won on Social Media During Tuesday's Republican Debate"}}]}] ```