Trump says he made ‘right decision’ to skip first debate

Former President Trump said he made the “right decision” to skip the first GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee last week. 

“My Poll numbers are UP since the very boring, record setting low (ratings!), Debate. Leading by BIG numbers. I made the right decision, and broke all records with the Tucker Carlson Interview!” he said in a Truth Social post Tuesday. 

The former president and GOP front-runner for the 2024 nomination announced shortly before the debate he would skip it despite meeting the Republican National Committee’s polling and fundraising requirements. A prerecorded interview he did with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, when the debate started. 

A couple of polls taken after the debate have been split on whether Trump is improving his standing after many of the other candidates debated on a national stage, but at least one poll showed the former president dropping a bit. 

An Emerson College poll showed Trump dropped 6 points from 56 percent before the debate to 50 percent after. A few candidates who participated in the debate, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, saw at least a couple-point improvement. 

A Trump internal poll obtained by Semafor, meanwhile, had Trump up 3 points from earlier this month to 58 percent, with DeSantis the closest behind with 13 percent and Haley in third with 7 percent. The poll also gave Trump a 39-point lead in a head-to-head matchup with DeSantis. 

Trump has criticized the candidates who took part in the debate and the event’s television ratings. 

Nielsen Media Research data showed 12.8 million people tuned in to watch the debate, and Fox said it had higher viewership than 70 percent of all primary debates from the 2016 and 2020 election cycles. But the number was considerably below the 20 million who watched the first Republican debate in 2015, Trump’s first time on the debate stage.

The polls also came after Trump turned himself in Thursday following the fourth indictment filed against him, which was related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.