Trump drops 6 points in post-debate GOP poll

Former President Trump saw a slight decrease in his support among Republican primary voters after he skipped the first GOP debate last week, according to a new poll from Emerson College.

The poll, which was conducted Aug. 25-26, found 50 percent of GOP primary voters said they plan to vote for Trump, down from 56 percent in a pre-debate poll and the lowest support to date in an Emerson poll.

At the same time, multiple candidates saw a slight uptick in support in the aftermath of the debate, which took place Wednesday in Milwaukee. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley saw the largest boost, with her support jumping from 2 percent to 7 percent after the debate.

The poll found Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 12 percent, up 2 percentage points from before the debate.

Former Vice President Mike Pence got 7 percent support in the poll, up from 3 percent before the debate.

The poll found that 27 percent of voters felt entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy won the debate last week, but it did not immediately translate to an increase in his support, which dropped from 10 percent to 9 percent in the Emerson poll.

The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The findings indicate Trump may pay a price with some Republican primary voters for his decision to skip the first debate, though it’s difficult to tell from one survey, and he maintains a commanding lead over the field.

He instead opted to record an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was published on social media at the same time the debate began.

Trump has indicated he plans to skip future debates, as well, pointing to his large lead in GOP primary polls and questioning why he should subject himself to attacks from other candidates when he is ahead by roughly 30 percentage points in many national polls.

“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.