A new poll suggests that former Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) will be the biggest beneficiaries of Wednesday night’s GOP presidential primary debate.

The survey of Republican primary voters who watched the debate — conducted by the Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, and Ipsos — indicated that the largest proportion of respondents (34%) believed Haley had performed best during the forum. DeSantis followed with 23%, while Vivek Ramaswamy (14%) finished in a distant third.

More than double (29%) of respondents who crowned Ramaswamy the winner, however, said he turned in the worst performance of the evening, outpacing even former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (24%). Just 5% and 6% said that Haley and DeSantis, respectively were the biggest losers on Wednesday.

A post-debate 538/Washington Post/Ipsos poll of debate-watching Republican primary voters found that Nikki won and Vivek lost. https://t.co/IrfK4jbFSB pic.twitter.com/Ui8tlPw55h

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) November 10, 2023

The results would seem to suggest that Haley got the better of the most explosive exchange of the night with Ramaswamy, who has made her a foil for his campaign.

Haley remarked that Russian and Chinese leaders were “salivating” over the possibility of Ramaswamy moving into the White House and even called him “scum” after he told her that she “should take care of her family first” in a crack about her daughter’s use of TikTok, the same Chinese-owned app used by Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy’s dismal performance would seem to substantiate a poll conducted in Iowa late last month that suggested that the more voters in the Hawkeye State have become aware of the first-time candidate, the less they like him.

The ex-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, meanwhile, has skyrocketed in the polls over the past few months, with many attributing her rise to strong performances in the previous two debates.

Haley is in second place in New Hampshire and South Carolina behind only former President Donald Trump. She trails Trump and DeSantis in Iowa.

The post GOP Voters Crown Haley and DeSantis as Debate Winners, Name Vivek The Biggest Loser: New Poll first appeared on Mediaite.

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