Last Wednesday, the eight qualifying candidates who chose to participate in the first RNC debate took to the stage in Milwaukee to make the case as to why they should be the nominee. Former President Donald Trump who is running for re-election in 2024 was absent from the debate. Many other candidates had their opportunity to shine, though, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who stood center stage.
A recently released video from the DeSantis War Room, shared exclusively with Townhall, showed not only excerpts of the governor's memorable moments during the debate, but clips of media pundits who spoke highly of DeSantis' performance.
In the video, a clip is played of Fox News "Outnumbered" co-host and Trump's former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaking about how a voter panel from "America's Newsroom" in which she shared "a lot of people said Governor DeSantis won the debate."
"I think the strongest performer is actually Ron DeSantis," a recent college graduate named Elizabeth Wolnik shared during that panel.
On CNN, Scott Jennings also shared how he, too, thought DeSantis won and praised his debate performance, particularly earlier in the debate. "After 24 hours of thinking about it, I really think DeSantis actually may have come out as the winner. He made no mistakes and he advanced himself on a couple of big-time answers, especially early on."
McEnany too praised how DeSantis was strong from the start. "Right out of the gate, within 15 seconds, he landed punch after punch against Joe Biden," she offered.
During his opening remarks of Wednesday's debate, just as he has said on the campaign trail throughout, DeSantis reminded that "this decline is not inevitable. It's a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline."
On Fox Business, co-host of "The Big Money Show," Jackie DeAngelis praised "a strong point for DeSantis in the debate too," speaking specifically to "his track record of what he did for kids in his state during COVID," calling it "really phenomenal."
Even before running for president, DeSantis has vocally stood opposed to COVID mandates and lockdowns, especially as it applied to school closures. He made a point to mention that during the debate as well, and spoke to how he could do it on a national level.
"In Florida, we stood up for what was right. First, we had schools open during COVID. And I took a lot of fire for that. But I stood for our kids and as president, I'll stand for you and your kids as well," DeSantis offered.
Consultant Josh Holmes participated on the "Fox News Sunday" panel, where he offered another place where DeSantis did well. "He was able to actually deliver the talking points that he had worked through over the last couple of months directly to the American people. In that of itself, I think that's probably a win for him," Holmes said about the governor.
Pete Snyder, who is the founder and CEO of Disruptor Capital, as well as a former Virginia gubernatorial candidate, spoke to Fox Business about how he saw DeSantis as "someone who looked presidential and had a clear vision for America." Snyder also spoke to how "what [DeSantis] did in Florida is a shining example of what can be done in America."
The video concludes with a line from DeSantis' closing statements, where candidates had been asked why they "are the person who can inspire this nation to a better day."
"This is our time for choosing," the governor shared in part of his closing statements. "We will send Joe Biden back to his basement and we will reverse the decline of this country."
Praise for DeSantis is not merely reflected in excerpts from such pundits and that one voter panel, though.
A poll from The Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, and Ipsos found that among those Republican debate watchers, a plurality, at 29 percent, said DeSantis won the debate. We covered those results in a VIP piece from Monday night.
The Washington Post poll wasn't the only one to show good news for DeSantis following his debate performance. Last Friday, Fox News released the details of the poll they had obtained from Public Opinion Strategies, which works for the DeSantis campaign. DeSantis looks to be "closing the gap." He went from 14 percent pre-debate to 21 percent post-debate. The poll surveyed 400 Iowa likely GOP caucus-goers and included a ballot test. Trump, meanwhile, slid from 42 percent to 41 percent.
The Fox News report has more details, which includes good news should DeSantis face President Joe Biden in the 2024 general election:
The Public Opinion Strategies poll also found DeSantis closing the gap against Trump in a head-to-head matchup, with DeSantis having 40% support to Trump's 43% post-debate.
Pre-debate, DeSantis largely trailed with 34% compared to Trump's 51%.
The poll also found that DeSantis topped the first debate, with 33% of respondents saying he was the strongest conservative on stage and 34% saying he can defeat Trump.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said DeSantis would be able to defeat President Biden, while 32% said he was the strongest leader on stage. DeSantis also topped the border issue in the poll.
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Among those who believed DeSantis won the debate, 64% are behind the Florida governor, 28% would vote for Trump, 3% for [Sen. Tim] Scott, and 3% for [former South Carolina Gov. Nikki] Haley.
Fifty percent of respondents who believed Haley won the debate said they would be voting for her, while 13% said they would vote for DeSantis, and 12% backed Trump.
The poll was conducted Aug. 24, the day after a fiery Wednesday debate among eight GOP presidential candidates. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
It's not just DeSantis' standings in the polls, but with fundraising as well. In the 24 hours following Wednesday night's debate, his campaign raised more than $1 million. An ABC News report also includes comments from a GOP megadonor:
"People were very happy and excited by his showing," Hal Lambert, a GOP megadonor and CEO of investment-management firm Point Bridge Capital, told ABC News when asked what the response has been from donors to DeSantis' debate outing.
"He got his name out there, he got his message out there and so many people haven't seen it. The more we do these, people are going to realize he's the only one on that stage that has a chance of beating Trump and is the only one that has a chance to become president."
All eyes are on Iowa, the first in the nation contest, with Republicans having their primary on Jan. 15, 2024. In a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll released last week, pollsters, including the pollster of that poll, pointed to how the 61 percent of those who say DeSantis is their first or second choice in the caucuses or are actively considering him, is similar to the 63 percent who say the same about Trump.
The Washington Examiner also reported that DeSantis received over 20 state-and county-level officials endorsements on Thursday, meaning he now has over 300 state-level-endorsements. These 21 recent endorsements span across 10 states.
Will this most recent debate performance, and next month's second debate showing, shift the race in favor of DeSantis? Time will tell, especially as we're still months away from Iowa. It certainly looks like enough seem to think so.