Jeb Bush, Anderson Cooper

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks at a CNN town hall at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, with Anderson Cooper. Bush, Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich took turns answering questions from the audience. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

(Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Who do you think won the Republican presidential town hall forum on Thursday night?

Three of the six remaining Republican presidential candidates battled each other for more than two hours in a town hall forum broadcast live by CNN from Columbia, S.C., only two days before the South Carolina primary.

The South Carolina contest is the first primary in the South in the 2016 presidential election.

Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich took the stage one-by-one Thursday to answer questions from the audience and CNN moderator Anderson Cooper.

A night earlier, GOP candidates Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio took part in a CNN town hall forum with the same format.

Thursday's town hall event took place on the same day Pope Francis ignited a firestorm after saying Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is not Christian. Trump said it's disgraceful for anyone to question his religion.

In the town hall event, Trump was asked by Cooper about the Pope's comments.

"I didn't think it was a good thing for him to say, frankly," Trump said. He added, "I think it was probably a little nicer statement than reported by you folks in the media."

Trump insisted he had no plans to engage in a war of words with the Pope. "I don't think it's a fight," Trump said. "I have a lot of respect for the Pope."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was asked what he thought about the Pope's comments and Trump's response. But he refused to enter the fray.

"I don't question people's Christianity," Bush said. "I think that's a relationship people have with their Lord and Savior and themselves. So I just don't think it's appropriate to question Donald Trump's faith."

Later, Bush was asked by an audience member if he would appoint a Supreme Court justice with 11 months left in his term as president, facing the same situation now before President Barack Obama.

"Would I nominate someone? I probably would," Bush said. "I think the presidency should be respectful of the Constitution, but whatever powers are there for the president, I think he should use them."

Kasich, the first to appear on stage Thursday, was asked how he would help the working poor.

"The one thing we want to make sure of is that they have healthcare," he said. "That's a critical thing for the working poor."

Kasich, told by one audience member that South Carolina led the nation in the incidence of deadly violence against women, was asked what he would do to address the problem.

"We've got to have an all-out war against this," Kasich said, adding the action needs to start at the state level. "It doesn't mean the president can't speak out on some of these moral issues."

In the end, who do you think emerged as the winner of the town hall forum? Please vote in the poll above, and share your comments below.

Note: Online polls conducted on Syracuse.com are non-scientific and their results should not be considered an accurate reflection of public opinion.

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