In recent months, the G.O.P. campaign for the Republican primaries have heated up.  There is much debate about topics across both social media and the news. Though the primaries are months away, it is still important to know who exactly is attempting to become the next president of the United States. The Republican field of candidates started out with 18 major candidates for president, but since then, two have dropped out rounding the group down to a nice 16. Even with two gone, the voters of the party are still heavily divided. None of the major candidates have been able to break 30% of the vote, according to polls all over the country. The field is heavily divided on important issues such as immigration, the extremist group ISIS, and other very important issues. The candidates that seem to be pulling ahead in the polls are the ones that spark controversy and pander to the Republican base.

The candidate that is currently doing the best in the polls is Donald Trump, who has appealed strongly to the right wing base.  He has forced many of the other Republican candidates to lean further to the right, in order to compete against him. In recent weeks, Trump’s views on birth right citizenship have spread through the party like a wild fire and were even mentioned during the last debate. Although the other candidates have criticized Trump on his plan for creating a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, some of the other candidates have stated that securing the border is important. Trump has also had some contention with fellow candidate, Carly Fiorina, over comments made about her looks. Carly isn’t the only women that Trump has insulted in recent months and years; he has a track record of insulting women about their looks and referring to them in distasteful ways. Despite this, Trump remains the front runner in the polls!

Although Trump is the front runner, it seems that he isn’t the only candidate that has made an unprecedented splash. Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson have also risen in the polls after this recent debate.  However, those who were expected to have done better, such as Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, seem to trail behind  with single digit scores in the polls. Many of their views on gay marriage, health care, immigration are the same, but Ben and Carly have found a way of distinguishing themselves from the rest. Although there are still quite a few candidates that have yet to leave the race, the field should thin in the next couple of months.  The biggest question will be whether Trump fades as the voters are forced to make choices in the primaries.  It should be a long “political” fall.