SEATTLE — Who won Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate?
Not anyone on stage, according to former Washington State Attorney General and KING 5 political analyst Rob McKenna.
The second in a series of debates between the Republican candidates for the party's presidential nomination was overshadowed by the absence of the race's frontrunner: former President Donald Trump. Many of the most notable moments from the debate centered around his lack of participation.
“I think they were all scrambling to reinforce their positions but I don’t think there were any real breakthrough moments,” McKenna said.
An NBC poll of Republican voters shows 59% said they want former President Trump to be the next nominee. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trails in a distant second place with 16%. When asked if the debate made any difference for the candidates on stage, McKenna noted that former president Trump’s lead is only expanding – and it’s still early in the race.
“I think it’s notable that former president Trump’s numbers are growing," McKenna said. "His lead is expanding. I’m a little surprised to see Republican voters coalesce around him at this level already, on the other hand, he’s the former president, he gets a ton of media attention and Joe Biden is really quite unpopular. So I think the other candidates are struggling to deliver a message to voters to persuade them to switch over and frankly their hits on Trump last night were pretty soft.”
Of all the candidates, McKenna noted former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley seemed to be the one making the most progress, gaining some ground on DeSantis from last June's debate. Haley was polling at 4% in June, and polled at 7% more recently, according to NBC. DeSantis dropped by 6%.
McKenna said Haley's progress was reinforced by the attacks other candidates on the stage sent her way.
"It's always the person who seems to be pulling ahead a little bit who seems to be under the attack at the next debate," McKenna said.