Republican voters may be more open to DeSantis after first GOP debate: poll

Republican voters may be more open to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) after his performance at the first Republican debate earlier this week, according to a new poll.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll taken in the two days since the debate found that roughly half of Republican respondents who followed the event were more open to a bid from the Florida governor. 

DeSantis still trails former President Trump, though, with 13 percent support from Republicans to Trump’s 52 percent. 

The former president saw a boost from 47 percent before the debate to 52 percent afterward, even though he didn’t take the stage with his fellow candidates. 

After months of suspense over whether he’d participate, Trump skipped the event and released a sit-down interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as the Republican National Committee’s debate went on air. 

A Washington Post, Ipsos and FiveThirtyEight poll of potential Republican voters who watched the first GOP debate found that DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy “performed best,” with 29 and 26 percent of respondents giving them that label, respectively.

That poll also found the share of respondents who say they’re considering casting their ballots for Trump dropped from 66 to 61 percent, while DeSantis went up from 62 to 67 percent on that front.

Conducted Aug. 24-25, the Reuters-Ipsos poll surveyed 347 Republicans and had a credibility interval of plus or minus 6.4 percentage points.