Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) stayed out of the muck last week, and that seems to be to his advantage.
DeSantis was expected to receive a barrage of attacks from his Republican rivals at the GOP presidential debate. Instead, it was upstart Vivek Ramaswamy who found himself mixing it up onstage.
The Florida governor largely stuck to the script in Milwaukee, giving flawless responses to the questions he was asked and hitting talking points that were familiar to those following the race closely.
As the highest-polling candidate going in, DeSantis got the first debate’s first question. It was about the breakaway hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” and why the politically charged song struck a chord with listeners. But DeSantis didn’t address the song directly, instead launching into an attack on the White House incumbent.
“Our country is in decline,” DeSantis said. “This decline is not inevitable. It’s a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline.”
He took a similar tactic when it came to other questions. When asked about climate change and whether or not humans are causing it, he again went after the president.
“First of all, one of the reasons our country has declined is because of the way the corporate media treats Republicans versus Democrats,” he said. “Biden was on the beach while those people were suffering [in Hawaii]. He was asked about it and he said no comment. Are you kidding me?”
While some saw a too-cautious debate strategy, others appeared to connect with the message.
A post-debate poll from the Washington Post found that a 29% plurality chose DeSantis as the winner. Similarly, 58% of respondents rated his performance as either excellent or good, and 78% rated him favorably overall, the highest of all candidates on both fronts.
And a poll from Public Opinion Strategies found DeSantis closing the gap with former President Donald Trump in Iowa after the debate, though it should be noted that the firm is working for the DeSantis campaign.
The Desantis campaign stressed ahead of the Milwaukee showdown that the candidate was not necessarily looking for a breakout moment, which seemed to be borne out onstage.
Hofstra University professor of rhetoric and public advocacy Tomeka Robinson said she thought former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who definitely did have breakout moments, won the debate, though she also rates DeSantis well.
“While I do commend DeSantis for not getting into the back and forth with other candidates, he does need to explain his policy platform a lot more, especially the more controversial areas to try to appeal to centrist voters,” she said. “For those already familiar with him and his policy, he has established his base, but that is not enough to overcome Trump in the primary, and it certainly is not enough to win the presidency.”
That may be the biggest question for DeSantis going forward: whether or not he’ll have to take more risks if he hopes to have a shot at overtaking Trump. Despite his high marks from the first debate, his national polling continues to slide.
Haley was one of several candidates to battle with Ramaswamy throughout the night, which, depending on who you ask, either left DeSantis above the fray or sitting on the sidelines.
In the spin room following the debate, DeSantis backer Ken Cuccinelli chose the former, saying the Florida governor “looked very presidential tonight.”
Republican strategist John Feehery had a similar, if less positive, take.
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“I thought he was a little nervous and a little shaky,” he said. “But I do think because he largely avoided the scrum, he came off more presidential than some of the others.”
DeSantis is now taking a break from campaigning to address Hurricane Idalia as it bears down on the coast of his state. Though a natural disaster is obviously a much more important and pressing issue than any presidential campaign, politicos will nonetheless be looking at how the crisis management plays out for him on the trail.
