“…public awareness of platform issues”
Are you kidding?
The entire world know there is a senile plant in the White House owned and operated by China ushering in masses of military age foreign men and giving them our money dosing with fentanyl and killing more young people than were killed in the viet nam war, after shooting us up with a death serum while giving 120 billion to an actor in ukrane
Who, that watches Republican debates, doesn’t know that?
Don’t assume that other citizens pay as much attention to politics as Freepers do.
Don’t assume that other citizens get their news from anything other than MSM opinion pieces.
Other citizens pay attention when Trump says something that the MSM considers so outrageous that the MSM thinks they can use it against Trump so they report it.
A primary debate gives the MSM a hope to divide Republicans and so they cover it and that helps inform the citizenry.