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.Another 15% said former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had the best performance, cementing her in third place overall, 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%.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.
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.
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