The news out of California on Wednesday night was that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis easily prevailed in the second Republican primary presidential debate.
A Washington Post/Ipsos poll of debate watchers revealed that 33% of GOP viewers thought DeSantis performed the best. DeSantis nearly doubled the performance of the runner-up, former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who posted 18%.
DeSantis not only won the debate in the voters’ minds, but he exceeded his tally from the first debate a month ago, which he also won.
As the Tampa Free Press reported at the time, DeSantis was voted best by 29% of voters, just three percentage points better than businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
DeSantis still trails his chief rival for the nomination, former President Donald Trump.
But where DeSantis scored points over Trump was in Trump’s favorite arena: television.
Trump again skipped the debate, given his status as the primary frontrunner, to give a speech to striking union autoworkers in Michigan.
In the news: Sparks Fly As Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy Feud During Debate
Newsweek reported on Thursday that Trump’s speech drew 522,000 viewers on the video platform Rumble.
In comparison, the debate averaged 9.5 Million viewers and nearly 2 Million in the 25-53 age bracket on FOX News Channel (FNC), FBN, and UNIVISION, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.
The debate also outpaced 60% of the 2016 and 2020 cycle debates.
“This reverses what happened at the first Republican debate, on August 23, which received fewer views than Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson, which was broadcast the same day on X, formerly Twitter,” Newsweek noted.
But the shift in audience size should benefit DeSantis, because, as The New York Times reported, he dominated the stage.
DeSantis, the Times noted, “drew attacks from rivals who did show up, but none seemed to land a killer blow. And despite not saying a word until 15 minutes in, he ultimately imposed himself on the proceedings, speaking more than any other candidate.”
In response to the Trump campaign’s criticism of DeSantis’ makeup for TV on Thursday, the governor’s spokesman, Bryan Griffin, posted on X, “Not a single substantive argument ever comes from the Trump campaign about @RonDeSantis—because they have none. The ‘overwhelming analysis’ was pretty clear about last night: DeSantis won. If your guy ever shows up, maybe you’ll have something serious to say.”
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