Who will benefit the most from debate performances?

 

MILWAUKEE Wis. (CBS 58) -- After a lively Republican presidential debate Wednesday, Aug. 23.  the question now is which party or candidate will benefit from their performance on stage.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy appeared to have the best impressions, according to a post-debate poll by FiveThirtyEight.

Haley saw the biggest shift in support after her performance with 30% of debate watchers leaning towards her before, and 47% afterwards. Ramaswamy (+5 points) and DeSantis (+4 points) saw more modest increases.

When asked who performed best and worst, the poll results were similar. Twenty-nine percent believed DeSantis did the best and 26% said Ramaswamy did. Despite Haley’s shift with voters, not as many people thought she was the strongest. She received 15%.

Republican strategist Bill McCoshen believes Ramaswamy stood out the most to him because of his confidence on stage while also having testy, but lively, exchanges with his rivals.

"He's the fresh face and disturber in this race so he sort of filled a lane that no one else is filling right now," McCoshen said. "His first hour was outstanding. I would have him in the top two. The second hour I thought he was a little too aggressive with Pence and Haley will see if that hurts him the polling."

Meanwhile Democrats are feeling confidant coming out of the debate. State Democratic party chairman Ben Wikler said with some candidates dodging questions about a federal abortion ban and downplaying climate change, he believes that will play to their advantage.

"They're making our argument for us. None of them would make sure there are protections for people's reproductive freedoms written into law," Wikler said. "It's not about the personalities of the candidates, it's about how they affect voters lives and I think that were based on that, Democrats have an edge."