WASHINGTON: An aggregate of nine major opinion polls, released hours after the first Republican debate, showed former US President Donald Trump leading all other presidential hopefuls by at least 40 points, even though he did not participate.

“Donald Trump was the big winner” of the Wednesday night debate, The Washington Post declared. Even though it never admired Mr Trump or his policies, the newspaper noted that “the candidates who want to beat him (in the primaries) spent much of the debate pretending he wasn’t even in the race.”

The New York Times noted Mr Trump’s influence goes much beyond the debate. “There is little evidence in the Trumpian Republican Party that a moderate voice can succeed in presidential primaries,” the newspaper commented.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, current South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, current North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy participated in the debate.

On Thursday, a polling data aggregator Real-Clear-Politics published nine major opinion surveys, showing that Mr DeSantis was ahead of other participants, even though he trailed Mr Trump by more than 40 points. Mr Trump has 55.4 on the popularity chart. Mr DeSantis has 14.3. Mr Ramaswamy is third with 7.2 and Mr Pence is fourth with 4 points.

The New York Times disagreed with the conclusion that Mr DeSantis won the debate. “It was the Ramaswamy show,” the newspaper declared. Mr Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old entrepreneur of Indian origin, is the Darkhorse of the 2024 presidential race, like Mr Trump was in 2016.

In the debate, Mr Ramaswamy “hewed closely to Mr Trump not just on substance but also on style” and promised to ‘‘preemptively pardon Mr Trump” if elected, the newspaper wrote.

Other media outlets noted that his pro-Trump stance resonates with the Republican base and the Harvard educated Indian American could be on the presidential ticket as a vice presidential candidate if Mr Trump overcame his legal troubles.

The Hill, a Washington newspaper that covers Congress, disagreed with the Times. “At the moment, no one other than Mr DeSantis has even a hope of becoming the Republican nominee,” the newspaper claimed. But The Hill also noted that Mr DeSantis “is the closest” only “if you can call trailing Mr Trump by 40 points” as being close.

The Fox News, which organised the debate, reported that Mr Trump that by not participating in the forum, Mr Trump “stayed above the fray.” “The night was full of acrimony and sloppiness; verbal punches were thrown but few landed. Humor and humility took the night off,” the Fox News commented.

The eight candidates who gathered in Milwaukee have in common “that they are massively trailing the former president; nothing that took place on the debate stage will turn that around,” the Fox added.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2023