Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy get top marks – and Christie loses out ton Burgum: Republican viewers tell DailyMail.com how they rated the candidates out of 10 on a night dominated by bickering and the absence of Trump
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earned top marks for their Wednesday night debate performances
- Polling of 546 Republicans was exclusively done for DailyMail.com
- At the back of the pack was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with a 4.6 rating, who also was voted the ‘most annoying’
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earned top marks for their Wednesday night debate performances, according to polling done exclusively for DailyMail.com.
A sample of 546 Republicans who tuned into the second GOP primary debate in Simi Valley, California were asked to rate the candidates’ performances from one to 10, with 10 being the most compelling.
With a 6.9, Ramaswamy earned the highest rating, followed by DeSantis with 6.5. After them were the South Carolinians – former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with a 5.6 rating and Sen. Tim Scott earning a 5.5.
At the back of the pack was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with a 4.6 rating, who also was voted the ‘most annoying.’
Doing slightly better than Christie was North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who’s still relatively new to the national political scene, with a 4.8, and former Vice President Mike Pence with a 5.2.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (left) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (right) earned top marks for their Wednesday night debate performances, according to polling done exclusively for DailyMail.com
With a 6.9, Ramaswamy earned the highest rating, followed by DeSantis with 6.5. After them were the South Carolinians – former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with a 5.6 rating and Sen. Tim Scott earning a 5.5
Ramaswamy received the highest percentage of Republicans who agreed that he won the debate, while Christie received the highest percentage of respondents who thought he lost.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said the 38-year-old political novice was the winner, with 24 percent saying that about DeSantis, who’s been stuck in a far away second place behind former President Donald Trump for months.
After that, 11 percent said Pence won the debate, 7 percent each said Haley and Scott, 6 percent said Christie and just 3 percent said Burgum.
Burgum was viewed by Republicans as the most weak – with 25 percent saying so – and the most boring – with 24 percent of respondents in agreement.
Ramaswamy and Christie tied for the title of being the most aggressive competitor of the night – earning 15 percent each – with respondents clearly liking Ramaswamy’s style better because the biggest swath also voted him the strongest (24 percent), most well-spoken (33 percent) and most persuasive (23 percent).
Meanwhile, 20 percent – the highest number – voted Christie the most annoying.
Ramaswamy also tied with DeSantis when Republicans were asked who the most presidential candidate was on the stage. Ramaswamy and DeSantis earned 19 percent each.
DeSantis was also given the superlative for most competent, with 26 percent of those polled picking him.
Republicans chose the only woman on the stage, Haley, as the ‘most charming,’ with 11 percent in agreement there.
Overall the highest percentage of Republicans, 27 percent, agreed that the real winner was Trump – who skipped the debate to campaign outside of Detroit, Michigan instead.
Pollster James Johnson, the co-founder of JLP, noted that the Republicans surveyed remain a ‘Trump-dominated electorate’ and without the ex-president onstage, ‘Trump-leaning voters favored Vivek in the absence of their man.’
‘Ron DeSantis can claim something of a win, having come across as the most presidential and competent, but he did not shine through in the way he needed to either,’ Johnson argued. ‘DeSantis did fine – but nothing more.’
Johnson said he believed the race ‘looks unchanged.’
‘Haley and Scott did well but did not dominate the conversation,’ he said. ‘Christie and Burgum were the definitive losers, written off by Republicans as annoying and boring respectively.’
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