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Supporters of former President Donald Trump want to see him fend off his GOP challengers like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after Trump opted to skip the first Republican primary debate.
A new Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday found that 54 percent of Republican voters who want Trump to win the party nomination think Trump should participate in the second debate next month. Only 19 percent of Trump supporters think he shouldn't.
The former president drew intense speculations about whether or not he'd attend last week's event in Milwaukee in the weeks leading up to the first GOP debate and was goaded to take the stage by rivals who portrayed him as weak and afraid. In a controversial move, Trump decided to do a sit-down interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson that was aired at the same time that the debate was aired on Fox News.
The poll, conducted between August 26 and 29, shows that while most Republicans—61 percent of all GOP voters and 83 percent of Trump supporters—approved of Trump's decision not to participate in the debate, most Republicans also think he should be on stage the second time around. Overall, 57 percent of GOP voters said Trump should debate. Of those who want a non-Trump candidate to be the Republican nominee, 67 percent said Trump should participate next month.
The second GOP primary debate is scheduled for September 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Fox News announced that Stuart Varney and Dana Perino will co-moderate the debate.
Trump said in August that he will "not be doing the debates," although it's unclear if he was referring to just the first event or all the debates. Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment.
"It's possible that Republicans agree with Trump refusing to sign the loyalty pledge and opting out of the first debate, while also remaining hopeful that the rules would be changed for future debates," Taylor Orth, a senior survey data analyst at YouGov, told Newsweek.
In the absence of Trump, political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy emerged as the winner of the first Republican debate. Drawing comparisons to the candidate Trump in 2016, Ramaswamy received praise for his fiery stage presence.
Despite being initially cast as a long-shot candidate against heavy hitters like Trump and DeSantis, he surged in the polls after the debate, while DeSantis lost some support. Trump also saw his lowest polling number from Emerson College since the pollsters began tracking primary support over a year ago, although he still remained far ahead of the rest of the GOP pack.
The YouGov poll, which surveyed 1,500 Americans, found that 31 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said Ramaswamy won the debate. There were also 19 percent who said DeSantis won and 8 percent who said former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley won. Another 14 percent said none of the candidates won and 22 percent said they weren't sure.
While DeSantis still seemed to impress Republicans, he ranked lower than Haley among all U.S. citizens. Of all Americans surveyed in the poll, 17 percent said Ramaswamy won, 13 percent said Haley won, 10 percent said DeSantis won and 5 percent said former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie won. Only 1 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said Christie won.
Trump remains in the number one spot, according to Wednesday's survey. The former president is the first-choice candidate for 51 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters and the second-choice candidate for 12 percent. Comparably, DeSantis is the first-choice candidate for only 14 percent of GOP voters and Ramaswamy is the first-choice candidate for 5 percent. DeSantis and Ramaswamy have more support as second-choice candidates, with 28 percent and 14 percent backing, respectively.
The poll also showed Trump with the highest favorability among Republicans, with a 52 percent approval rating, followed by DeSantis' 46 percent and Senator Tim Scott's 35 percent. Christie is the most unpopular among GOP voters, with a 36 percent disapproval rating.
Update 08/31/23, 9:11 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comments from Orth.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more