A Washington Post poll found that a plurality of voters thought Florida Gov Ron DeSantis performed best in the debate
Conservative pundits reacting to Wednesday night’s GOP presidential debate, including a post-debate poll, conclude that Gov. Ron DeSantis is the best-placed candidate to take on former President Trump but call the field narrow.
“Honestly, nothing personal, but I think Nikki Haley won the title of obnoxious in this debate,” conservative commentator Mark Levine posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “There’s been a lot of personal attacks. Her record as governor is also very weak. Scott started to address that. Pence, Burgum, and Christie have to go. DeSantis has been very strong. A little bit longer actually. But time to thin the herd.”
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“The DeSantis strategy is going well in Iowa, the bottom three or four candidates have to drop out at this point, they have no hope,” Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz said on Fox Business.
“It’s a two-man race at this point,” political commentator Rob Smith posted on X. “I believe DeSantis will surprise Iowa and New Hampshire, and it will completely reset the conversation. I don’t have the money to promote anybody, I’ll call it. As I see it.”
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts posted that the debate between Trump and DeSantis at X is “the debate Americans want regardless of who their preferred candidate is.”
“Tonight’s debate, which is a sideshow, underscores the need for this idea. America deserves it.”
A post-debate poll conducted by 538, The Washington Post, and Ipsos revealed several key findings:
- Governor Ron DeSantis received the highest performance rating from voters, with 33% of respondents indicating that he performed the best during the debate. Additionally, a significant majority, 54%, rated his performance as either excellent or good, which was the highest among all the candidates.
- The poll noted that DeSantis is the only candidate whose favorability rating is on par with that of former President Donald Trump. However, it also highlighted that more likely Republican primary voters are considering voting for Trump over DeSantis.
- While both Trump and DeSantis appear to dominate the GOP primary field among self-identified Republicans, the poll found that likely Republican primary voters who identify as independents are divided between Trump, DeSantis, and Nikki Haley.
These poll results offer insights into the perceived debate performance of candidates and the dynamics within the Republican primary race, particularly in terms of favorability and support among different segments of potential voters.