Trump was second with 18% but his negatives far outweighed that, 29% thought he was the worst in the debate.
Others who were thought to have done well in the debate were Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Mike Huckabee, in that order.
Ted Cruz was the big winner in boosting his support following the debate. Last week he was polling at 6%, following the debate he jumped to 13%. Carly Fiorina also had a big increase, from 2% support to 8%. Ben Carson’s support rose from 8% to 11% after the debate. Trump’s numbers barely budged, last week he as at 22%, after the debate it was 23%. The bigger losers in support were Jeb Bush and Scott Walker with both of them having 10% pre-debate support and 7% after.
While one in five Trump supporters said they would vote for the eventual Republican candidate, there was bad news for Republicans when 54% of Trumps supporters said they would vote for him if he ran as a third party candidate.
The majority of Republican voters thought the debates were important to their vote with 25% saying the debates was ‘very important’ in their vote decision and another 54% said the debates were ‘somewhat’ important in their decision.
Full details of the survey here.
Results of the First Poll After the Debate
