A few Republican candidates benefited from the first presidential debate in the polls, but former President Donald Trump still holds a commanding 40-point lead in the Real Clear Politics polling average.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley got slight boosts in some polls following the debate. Haley appeared to benefit the most, jumping over former Vice President Mike Pence into fourth place in the polling average. Trump’s polling average remained above 50% following the debate that he opted to skip as the former president’s mugshot dominated news cycles immediately after.
The RCP average as of Wednesday morning puts Trump in first place at 53.6%, followed by DeSantis (13.5%), Vivek Ramaswamy (7.3%,) Haley (4.9%), and Pence (4.6%). Republican candidates polling at the bottom of the pack include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (2.5%), South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (2.4%), former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (0.4%), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (0.4%), and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd (0.3%).
A poll conducted by InsiderAdvantage the day after the debate showed that DeSantis jumped to 18%, an eight percentage point boost from the previous InsiderAdvantage poll. Haley meanwhile hit double digits in the poll, jumping to 11%, a five percentage point boost from her standing in the previous poll. The InsiderAdvantage poll, which surveyed 850 “likely Republican caucus and primary voters,” showed that Trump had fallen six percentage points — down to 45% — since the previous poll conducted before the debate.
An Emerson poll conducted in the days following the first GOP debate showed Haley making the biggest jump, from 2% in a poll taken a week before the debate to 7% in the post-debate poll, which surveyed 1,000 registered voters. Pence jumped from 3% to 7% in the poll, and DeSantis moved up from 10% in the pre-debate poll to 12%. Trump and Ramaswamy both dropped in their polling after the debate, according to Emerson. The former president went from 56% to 50%, while Ramaswamy lost one percentage point, falling back into single digits at 9%.
The latest Economist/YouGov poll taken after the debate showed that not much changed for the candidates seeking to gain ground on Trump. DeSantis remained at 16% in the poll, which is where he stood in the previous Economist/YouGov survey taken a week before the debate. Ramaswamy gained two percentage points, moving from 4% to 6%, according to the polls, and Haley inched from 3% to 4%. Trump dropped to 52%, according to the poll, giving him a 36-point lead over DeSantis nationally.
A Morning Consult poll also found that the debate didn’t change much for the candidates trailing Trump. The poll, which surveyed over 3,500 “potential Republican primary voters,” showed that Haley and Scott were the only candidates to get a slight bump. Haley went from 3% to 5% and Scott moved up from 2% to 3%. Trump (58%), DeSantis (14%), Ramaswamy (10%), and Pence (6%) all remained the same before and after the debate.
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The day after the GOP debate, which garnered nearly 13 million viewers, Trump was arrested in Fulton County, Georgia, on a series of charges, including violating Georgia’s RICO Act, conspiracy to commit forgery, and false statements and writings. Trump’s mugshot taken at the jail quickly went viral on social media and was plastered across the country’s newspapers and news websites. Trump called his arrest in Georgia “a very sad day for America.”
“What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” Trump added. “We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong. And everybody knows that I’ve never had such support.”