According to an exclusive poll by , the vast majority of Republicans thought former President Donald Trump was right to stay away from Wednesday night’s first presidential debate.
A full 71 percent said he made the right decision. Only 22 percent disagreed.
Rather than join eight other contestants on stage, Trump taped an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and still managed to dominate the headlines.
James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, which conducted the poll, said the former president could claim a win.
“Nearly three out of four Republicans believe staying away was the right thing to do, demonstrating his grip on the Republican primary — for many, the former president can do no wrong,” he said.
JL Partners conducted an online poll of 504 registered Republicans watching Wednesday’s debate. The results show an error rate of 4.4 percent
Instead, former President Donald Trump recorded an interview with Tucker Carlson at his Bedminster golf course in New Jersey. It was broadcast during Wednesday’s debate
“And without a clear, standout winner of the debate, there is no consensus on who should be the lead candidate running against Trump.”
“The longer this goes on, the greater the chance that Trump will repeat his ploy in 2016 and sail to victory with divided opponents.”
The former president dubbed eight other candidates onstage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His advisers said they were essentially fighting for the vice presidential post in a Trump administration.
Overall, Republican viewers declared biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy the narrow winner. About 28 percent of the 504 respondents said he was the best performer, beating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by one percentage point.
When asked who won the evening overall and the vote was thrown on Trump, Ramaswamy was still in the lead at 22 percent. But the former president came second with 21 percent.
When nominated, he has a big lead over his competitors. Surveys consistently give him a lead of 30 points and more.
Given that kind of advantage, there’s little point in taking the stage when candidates’ poll numbers are in the single digits, advisers said.
“Should I sit there for an hour or two, whatever it is, being hassled by people who shouldn’t even be running for president?” Should I be doing that on a network that isn’t particularly kind to me?’ said Trump to Carlson.
The first debate was moderated by Fox News. Since he called Arizona for Joe Biden on election night, Trump has repeatedly fired harsh criticism.
Viewers thought biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was the winner of the debate as he edged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a percentage point in ‘s poll
Ramaswamy was still ahead when Donald Trump came along. He managed to dominate the headlines while staying away from the debate
Ramaswamy was seen speaking to reporters in the spin room immediately after the debate ended in Milwaukee on Wednesday night
And senior adviser Jason Miller said the decision was confirmed by Wednesday’s outcome. The interview with Carlson quickly racked up more than 100 million views within hours of its release.
“Ten times as many people watched President Trump’s Tucker-Carlson interview as actually watched that pile of pigs,” he said in the spin room after the debate ended.
“President Trump was right to stay away and let the others jump up ‘ himself and be copies or faint echoes of America First policies while President Trump was at the wheel.’
His influence was obvious on stage anyway. The male candidates wore his navy suit, white shirt and red tie uniform.
And they were asked if they would stick to their promise to support the eventual 2024 nominee, even in the extraordinary circumstances that the nominee was a convicted criminal.
“If former President Trump were convicted in court, would you still support him as your party’s choice?” asked Fox News host Brett Baier. “Please raise your hand if you like.”
Ramaswamy, who is campaigning as a more competent version of Trump, shot his hand in the air.
Beside him, DeSantis slowed, glancing at his rivals and looking like he was doing a political calculation as the crowd began to cheer.
It was all a reminder of Trump’s ability to outshine his rivals without even taking the stage.
In the interview, he also hinted that the country could see an escalation in political violence after Carlson asked him if the US was headed for conflict.
‘I don’t know. I can say this: There’s a level of passion I’ve never seen,” he said.
“There’s a level of hate I’ve never seen before.” And that’s probably a bad combination.’