I’m surprised. While I don’t necessarily think he had a bad night (his closing statement was both memorable and genuinely funny) I thought other candidates outperformed him. Like Guy, I thought Sen. Rubio came out strongest and did himself the most favors. I was also impressed by Gov. Kasich (a relatively unknown contender outside the debate venue). After all, he doesn't have much name recognition across the country although he wisely — and judiciously — used his time effectively.
But what do I know? Behold this Gravis Marketing/One America News Network poll:
Interestingly, 19 percent of respondents said The Donald won the debate whereas 30 percent claimed he lost it. The guy couldn’t be more polarizing. The big mystery here, though, is where will his supporters go now that he appears to have been taken down a peg? Will they go to Carson or someone else? Or will Trump weather the storm?
Incidentally, Dr. Carson has been sailing steady for months. Never leading the field but never losing steam, either. That may change:
All that being said, this is just one poll from one organization. There will be many more conducted. Meanwhile, let's not forget that there's another debate as soon as next month. So it's much too early for Trump to start panicking yet. I’ll leave you with more information about the sample:
Gravis Marketing, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 904 registered Republican voters across the U.S. Questions included in the poll were focused only on the top ten GOP candidates that participated in the 9 PM ET debate. The poll has an overall margin of error of +/- 3%. The polls were conducted on August 6, immediately following the GOP debate using interactive voice response, IVR, technology. The poll was conducted exclusively for One America News Network.