[quote=poorgradstudent]Trump is at least threatening to skip the debate entirely.
If the other candidates decide to gang up on him without him there (and the moderators are likely to bring up the issue), this could hurt him very, very badly.[/quote]
I think he will indeed skip the debate. It’s questionable if it hurts him or helps him. His hard core supporters probably won’t watch the debate if he isn’t there. If it just ends up being a Trump roast than some people might be put off by the fact that nobody is talking policy and they are attacking a man who isn’t even there to defend them self. He does have the benefit of he can’t say anything stupid in a heated exchange although there’s always twitter for that.
I do know that there’s going to be a ton a polling down before and after the debate and if those numbers show he lost some support you’ll hear about it on every media outlet. If he doesn’t lose support than it will be relegated to the back page.
