So Trump didn’t participate in the debate? No matter, he’s still gaining ground nationally. However, a key state race win might be more questionable for the 45th president now.
According to a Citizens Awareness Project/Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted on Thursday, Trump is still in the lead. However, it noted that when it comes to the GOP nomination in Iowa, that lead is lacking when put against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Trump only led DeSantis three percentage points, 43 percent to 40 percent, which falls well within the survey’s 4.9 percent margin of error.
The same poll taken just before the debates Trump decided not to participate in showed Trump leading DeSantis 51 percent to 34 percent.
That’s quite a change and in a short amount of time.
The only real conclusion most are making is that maybe Trump risked a bit too much in not debating his opponents. Sure, he still made himself relevant by choosing to interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and having it air during the same time as the debates.
However, by not actually being there to go head-to-head with DeSantis and others, it seems he may have lost some momentum after all. In fact, regarding favorability, both pre- and post-debate, Trump lost about 9 points, going from 71 percent favorable and 27 percent unfavorable to 67 percent favorable and 23 percent unfavorable.
DeSantis, on the other hand, gained points.
The Florida lawmaker used to sit with 68 percent favorability. That now looks more like 72 percent.
Now, as I mentioned before, this may not mean all that much. After all, the gains and losses of each candidate aren’t a lot at this point in time. Plus, nationally, Trump is still doing very well against all opponents, Biden included.
But it should be noted that it does appear the debates did something good for DeSantis, and possibly at Trump’s expense.
