Indian American presidential hopeful Nikki Haley emerged as the winner of the third Republican presidential debate, while fellow Indian American rival entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was the loser, according to a poll of Republican viewers.
A 538/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 34% of likely Republican primary and caucus voters who tuned into the third debate said Haley, former US ambassador performed the best out of the five candidates.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) came in second place with 23% of voters saying he won the night.
READ: Nikki Haley beats all the boys in third Republican debate (November 9, 2023)
While 15% said Ramaswamy had the best performance, a plurality of voters ranked him as having the worst performance overall.
As many as 29% said Ramaswamy performed the worst, followed by 24% who gave the distinction to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 12% who said Sen. Tim Scott (SC).
The two-hour debate, hosted by NBC News, included some contentious exchanges among the five candidates. In one of the most memorable moments, Ramaswamy called Haley “Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels” in response to a foreign policy question, and Haley called Ramaswamy “scum” in a later exchange after he mentioned her daughter’s use of TikTok.
“Leave my daughter out of your voice,” Haley told Ramaswamy, as boos echoed from the audience. “You’re just scum,” she added.
READ: Nikki Haley ties with DeSantis for second place in Iowa (October 30, 2023)
More than half — 55% — of voters rated Haley’s performance as either excellent or very good, while 33 percent said the same for Ramaswamy. DeSantis also received high marks for his performance, with 53% saying he did excellent or very good.
Despite favorable ratings for Haley and DeSantis, former President Donald Trump remained the front-runner for the primary, according to the poll. 63% of respondents said they are considering voting for Trump, followed by 48% for DeSantis and 38% for Haley.
READ: Nikki Haley beats Biden by four points in new poll (October 12, 2023)
The poll was conducted Nov 8-9 among 731 potential Republican primary or caucus voters who watched the Nov 8 debate. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
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