A small plurality of Republican voters who tuned into the first GOP primary debate on Wednesday night declared Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) the winner and outperformed the other seven candidates alongside him onstage, according to a poll.
Roughly 29% of GOP voters who watched the debate said DeSantis had the best performance compared to the rest of the field, according to a Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll conducted immediately after the event. DeSantis was closely followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, with 26% of likely primary voters saying he performed the best.
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Another 15% said former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had the best performance, cementing her in third place overall, the poll showed. However, none of the other candidates surpassed double-digit support, with only 7% saying former Vice President Mike Pence had the best performance and 4% saying the same for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson each only garnered 1%, according to the poll.
Haley showed the most improvement, though. The former United Nations ambassador managed to increase her electoral chances among GOP voters after the debate. Before the event began, only 29% of voters said they’d consider voting for her, later increasing to 46% after the debate was over, according to the poll.
That number puts her in a tie with Ramaswamy, who also garnered 46% of the vote after the debate.
Still, most voters who were surveyed, 67%, said they’d vote for DeSantis, followed closely by those who said they’d back former President Donald Trump, who opted not to participate in the debate. Notably, those who watched the debate became less convinced of Trump as a candidate, dropping from 65% before the debate to 61% after, the poll showed.
DeSantis also emerged with the highest favorability ratings of the night, with 72% of voters saying they hold a positive view of the Florida governor. Haley and Scott came in second with 65%, followed by Ramaswamy with 60%.
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The debate on Wednesday gave candidates a chance to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowded field and attempt to gain some ground on Trump, who has established himself as the early front-runner for the GOP nomination. Candidates are set to meet again for the second primary debate on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
The pre-debate Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll surveyed 4,968 voters between Aug. 15 and 22 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. The post-debate polling was conducted after the event ended on Aug. 23 and 24 among 775 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.