How To Stream The GOP Debate

No matter how closely you follow politics, you've probably at least heard about the drama of the first primetime Republican debate, which took place in August among the (then) top 10 candidates of the GOP race. Well, if FOMO is getting the best of you and you're wondering how to stream the second Republican debate, which will air this Wednesday, CNN has great news for you. The debate will be much easier to stream — even if you don't have a cable account — than the previous one, but the drama will likely be just as exciting.

If you have cable (and a TV), then all you have to do to watch Wednesday's debate is turn on CNN. Fortunately, if you don't have a TV or a cable account, it's still not much more difficult to watch. That's because CNN will stream the debate online for free on its website and mobile platforms.

Typically, to stream CNN live on your computer requires a valid cable account and password. Only short (non-live) videos are free and universally accessible on the website and mobile apps. But on Wednesday, CNN will make the live stream available without a password, correcting what some saw as a mistake during the first debate.

The first primetime debate, which was hosted by Fox News and Facebook, was not available to stream online for free (at least, not legally). If you didn't have cable — and if your friends didn't have cable, either — you were pretty much out of luck. Still, that didn't seem to hurt ratings too much, as the debate shattered previous debate records with 24 million Americans tuning in to watch Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and the other seven candidates who took the stage.

The live stream isn't the only thing that CNN has changed from Fox News' debate. For its debate, Fox News opened the stage to the top 10 candidates according to the five most recently released polls at the time of the debate. This notably left Carly Fiorina out of the primetime debate, although she made quite an impression on voters from her podium at the "happy hour" debate that preceded the main event.

In late August, CNN changed things up by announcing that it would admit any candidate who placed in the top 10 in an average of national polls between July 16 and Sept. 10, including polls conducted after the last debate. This gave Fiorina the opportunity to qualify, as she is the only candidate who has moved up into the top 10 solidly enough to make it to the primetime debate this time around.

To see Fiorina in all her debate glory and stream the event online (for free!), all you have to do is go to CNN's website or download one of CNN's free mobile apps. In other words, there are no excuses for FOMO this time around.