Who Won Tonight's Republican Debate on CNN? Twitter Weighs in on GOP With Best Performance

After the fifth Republican debate drew to a close Tuesday night, viewers took to Twitter to discuss the candidates' answers, analyze their interactions and try to figure who won. As always, the debate was a chance for candidates to flex their muscles and reiterate their campaign stances, but according to the folks on Twitter, some did better than others. 

Social media users gave Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a lot of love for his composed responses:

And Rubio came out out top in terms of mentions by other candidates during the debate: His rivals mentioned him by name 18 times, far more than any other candidate.

But real estate mogul Donald Trump, the current frontrunner in the polls, continued to stir up both controversy and support from the Twitter-verse:

Social media users are, of course, not in consensus about the "winner" of the debate, but it's clear that the country hasn't heard the last from any of the nine candidates who participated Tuesday night.