A new national poll shows that the apparent winner of the second Republican presidential debate was not Ron DeSantis — and was not, in fact, on stage in Simi Valley, California.
The Morning Consult survey shows the Florida Governor dropping from 15% to 12% in Thursday's numbers, while the former President, who has yet to debate the other candidates, has surged above 60%.
"63% of potential Republican primary voters support Donald Trump for the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination, up from 58% in our survey released Monday ahead of the latest primary debate," Morning Consult noted.
DeSantis is still in second place, meanwhile, even as there seems to be jockeying for third place behind him. Vivek Ramaswamy is at 7%, down 2 points from before the debate. Mike Pence, at 6%, gained a point from before the debate. And Nikki Haley is now at 5%, having lost 2 points since Wednesday's event.
Meanwhile, there is some evidence that the second debate lacked the novelty of the previous. "The sizable shift from Monday to Thursday is notable compared with what happened after the first Republican debate in August, when the Thursday survey found no significant change in the GOP electorate's views," the polling outfit noted.
Former President Trump was in Michigan Wednesday night, of course, and this poll result seems to suggest that dodging debates isn't hurting him with voters. It also seems to be a data point against DeSantis' latest attempts to goad the former President into a one-on-one debate.
"Since the former President didn't come here, maybe he would be willing to do one with you and I," DeSantis told Sean Hannity. "I think he owes it to our voters to come and make the case."
Down 51 points in a national poll, however, it's hard to make the case that Trump and DeSantis have parity. On the Democratic side of the aisle, President Joe Biden is refusing to debate his Primary challengers.
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