Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis performed the best in the first GOP presidential debate Wednesday night, edging out entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy 29% to 26%, according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, and Ipsos.
Former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley came in third at 15%.
Former Vice President Mike Pence (7%), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., (4% each), and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (1% each) rounded out the field, per the survey results.
The outlets surveyed 775 potential Republican primary voters who watched the debate.
The debate was held without former President Donald Trump, who remains the leader at 64% of the surveyed GOP primary voters interviewed for the poll, which asked which of the GOP candidates are those surveyed considering voting for in the primary. DeSantis is second at 51%.
DeSantis leads Trump 67% to 61% among debate watchers surveyed.
As of Thursday in national polls, DeSantis sat in second place with 14.8%, per the FiveThirtyEight aggregate, behind Trump's 51.6%.
DeSantis earned a five-point bump from pre-debate to post-debate among those who watched it and would consider voting for him. Meanwhile, Ramaswamy enjoyed a six-point bump. Haley scored big with debate watchers, earning a 17-point spike from those who would consider voting for her.
Haley and Ramaswamy are neck and neck for third place in the survey in both categories — debate watchers and GOP primary voters — in the category of consideration of votes for the primary.
Haley also earned a 14-point spike in her favorability ratings among debate watchers while her unfavorable ratings barely moved.
It was a mixed bag for Ramaswamy, who saw his favorables go up by 10 points but his unfavorables bump up 19 points.
DeSantis barely moved in his favorable and his unfavorable ratings from pre- to post-debate.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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