Former President Donald Trump won a post-debate straw poll of 30 voters in Georgia, which they organized themselves, as reported on NBC’s Meet the Press Special following Wednesday’s debate, held by NewsNation.
According to NBC News campaign embed reporter Nnamdi Egwuonwu, “despite not being on stage,” Trump ran away with the tally at the Atlanta watch party, taking 18 of the 30 votes. Egwuonwu noted viewers tracked their opinions throughout the evening.
WATCH: NBC News Campaign Embed @NnamEgwuon watched tonight's debate with a group of about 30 Georgia voters who, on their own, organized a straw poll. The results:
Haley: 1
Christie: 1
DeSantis: 2
Ramaswamy: 5
Trump, despite not being on stage: 18 pic.twitter.com/K9R56Yfu2V— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 7, 2023
Of the candidates who actually debated, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy took the most votes, five, followed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) with two.
Just one person believed that former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley won the fourth Republican debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, while one other dubbed former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) the winner.
Eguonwu spoke with four of the participants after the event, asking one man named Will for “the moment that caught [his] eye.”
“What left a mark for me was Nikki Haley being called out for being the war-monger that she is,” Will said. “At the same time, Ramaswamy holding up a notepad saying, ‘Nikki is Corrupt,’ and that’s something that stands out really strongly in my mind and in the voters’ minds.”
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at the fourth Republican presidential primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on December 6, 2023. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty)
He added that the four candidates spent too much time talking about the poll’s winner and leading Republican presidential candidate, Trump.
“They talked too much about Trump, the man that wasn’t on the stage but ruled the stage tonight,” Will said.
On Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump Jr. appeared on the Charlie Kirk Show on Real America’s Voice, where Kirk asked him for his thoughts on the straw poll.
“The people get it, and the reason they gave Vivek the next number and the most is because he called out all the nonsense,” Trump Jr. said.
“The reality is, these guys, they get on the stage, and they’re in the twelfth Republican debate for dog catcher at this point, and they’ve flip-flopped on everything that there is, and they’re trying to tell you what you want to hear, but it doesn’t line up with what they then tell their donors,” he continued.
“The jig is up,” in Trump Jr’s view.
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