EXCLUSIVE: How Donald Trump ‘won’ the debate by 19 POINTS even though he wasn’t there: The latest Daily Mail poll in Iowa reveals the ex-president’s vice-like hold on the caucus state and how voters think DeSantis best placed to tackle him
According to an exclusive Daily Mail poll, Donald Trump was declared the “real winner” of the Republican debate in Iowa, even though he didn’t show up.
The result seemed to justify Trump’s decision not to debate his rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who are far behind him in the polls.
His absence forced DeSantis and Haley to duke it out in a head-to-head debate in Des Moines hosted by Fox News.
They attacked each other for two hours, but rarely focused their fire on Trump, the frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
An exclusive Daily Mail poll finds Trump was the ‘real winner’ of the Republican debate in Iowa, and Ron DeSantis is best placed to take him on
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis debate in Iowa
Donald Trump was declared the “real winner” when he appeared at a Fox News town hall instead
Iowa will become the first state to vote on Monday in the months-long nomination process.
Republican strategists compared the confrontation between Haley and DeSantis to a “dumpster fire.”
Daily Mail polls showed DeSantis beating Haley, with 55 percent saying the Florida governor won, and 31 percent saying the former South Carolina governor won.
DeSantis defeated Haley in the debate, according to the Daily Mail poll
Comments from viewers indicated that they thought DeSantis seemed “strong.”
Viewers found Haley mainly ‘smart’ but also ‘weak’
But when asked who the “real winner” of the evening was, 47 percent said Trump.
Of the rest, 28 percent said DeSantis and 19 percent said Haley.
When asked which of the two candidates on stage was best able to go after Trump, viewers chose DeSantis.
The poll found that 46 percent of them believed DeSantis could do a better job of defeating the former president.
That put him 13 points ahead of Haley, who received 33 percent support.
To gauge reactions to the debate, pollsters JL Partners used online survey methods to survey 453 Republicans who said they watched the debate.
The fieldwork lasted two hours after the debate ended. The results have a margin of error of 4.6 percent.
Trump’s decision to oppose the convention and boycott the Republican debates has had no impact on his standing in the national polls.
They show that he still has a wide lead over both Haley and DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis stands with his wife Casey and son Mason after CNN’s Republican presidential primary debate in Iowa
DeSantis and Haley clashed repeatedly
In the Iowa debate, Haley and DeSantis immediately went on the offensive, but used their best lines against each other, dealing only a few glancing blows to Trump.
DeSantis accused the former president of posting “word vomit” on social media and claimed that “Donald Trump has deported fewer people than Barack Obama.”
Haley disagreed with Trump that January 6, 2021 was a “beautiful day,” saying it was a “terrible day,” adding, “Trump lost it. Biden won that election.”
At the same time as the debate, Trump answered questions at a Fox News town hall in Iowa.