Meaningful political debates?

In recent months, we've been debated to death, here in America. At first, the republican debates were entertaining and often funny, but nothing of substance was ever brought to the fore. I would even say that my later comment applies to the Democratic debates as well.

What would have made sens would have been to poll the population first, asking a representative segment to tell us what the real problems that government needed to resolve were, so these problems, not ISIS, abortion or other fringe issues could ever take center stage.

This would have provided a meaningful canvass for moderators to articulate the debates around, and give us an idea about which candidate offered the best solutions to the real problems faced by our country and its citizens.

Not the other way around by making it too candidate-centric and with no possible escape towards a bunch of trivial issues or sudden and convenient emergencies...