Trump down 6 points with Republicans in post-debate poll

Former President Donald Trump saw a slight drop in support among fellow Republicans after he skipped the first GOP debate.

In a poll conducted by Emerson College and reported by The Hill, 50% of GOP primary voters said they plan to vote for Trump, down from 56% in pre-debate polling. It’s Trump’s lowest level of support in an Emerson poll.

“While Trump saw a slight dip in support, the question from this poll is whether this is a blip for Trump or if the other Republican candidates will be able to rally enough support to be competitive for the caucus and primary season,” Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling said in a statement.

Several Trump challengers saw slightly improved numbers after the debate. Support for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley grew from 2% to 7% while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis edged up 2 percentage points to 12%. Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence got 7% support in the poll, up from his previous 3%.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy polled at 9%, a 1-point drop from the pre-debate poll.

“Different candidates have been able to pull varying demographic support from the Trump base, for example, Mike Pence who saw an overall four-point bump in voter support was able to increase his support in the Midwest from 4% to 13% of the vote, while Trump saw his Midwest support drop from 54% to 42% after the debate,” Kimball said. “Nikki Haley’s support increased from about 2% to 9% among voters over 50 while Trump’s support dropped within this age group from about 56% to 49% after the debate.”

A plurality of Republican Primary voters, 27%, think Ramaswamy won the debate, while 21% think DeSantis won, 12% think Pence won, and 11% think Haley won. Twenty-two percent of Republican Primary voters think no candidate won the debate.

The poll, conducted Aug. 25-26, surveyed 1,000 registered voters with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.