Who wins the first debate? Pre Debate Poll

[Radicalneo]

A win is a combination of who performs well(75) and who gets a bump(25)

[Consuming is good, it's what we're made for]

No matter who wins, America loses.

[NyIndy]

Honestly, I think Haley takes it. Based on what I've seen from all of the candidates so far, she's by far the best under pressure and is good at delivering rehearsed moments (aside from Christie maybe). Doesn't hurt that she's probably not going to be a major target for anybody else except for maybe Scott.

[Whale Psychiatrist]

I voted for Vivek, but a quick perusal of Xitter just now shows that people seem to be coming out hard against him as a creature of Big Pharma - which I suppose is why he's now worth a billion dollars. It's probably still his debate to lose, but if somebody can get a good attack painting him as out of touch or perhaps a "swamp creature" then it could blunt his momentum big time. I'm not sure who's the one who could do that though - I don't trust DeSantis to manage any kind of clever sound bite, and I doubt it's Christie's MO.

[Landslide Lyndon]

If by win you mean who will be most entertaining, I put my money on Christie.
After all he'll probably be the only one to attack Trump directly.

[Real Texan Politics]

Probably Vivek, although Christie may win over a good chunk of crossover democrat support.

DeSantis is more than likely gonna crash and burn.

[Lief 🗽]

The media establishment will likely anoint Scott the winner, as they are desperate to make him the nominee.

[TheTide]

If DeSantis is particularly bad (as in worse than general expectations, which are already pretty low) then it might be plausible that he has some kind of humiliation kink.     

[WalterWhite]

Ramaswamy easily

[sul]

If DeSantis is particularly bad (as in worse than general expectations, which are already pretty low) then it might be plausible that he has some kind of humiliation kink.     

the guy very clearly has some sort of anxiety problems. Even against the ghost of charlie crist he was freezing up. Viviek, tim scott, chris christie, nikki hailey are about to give him some problems.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Vivek probably

[Ferguson97]

Ramaswamy, he'll hit all the right culture war buttons while sounding vaguely like a human being.

[NOTaDemocratBUTaLeftist]

A win is a combination of who performs well(75) and who gets a bump(25)

Before taking the poll, I was actually thnking I would be ALONE in voting for Doug Burgum. Burgum is a dark horse IMHO. I expect him to get a huge bump and perform very well, attacking his fellow candidates, and Trump in a subtler manner. Do not underestimate Burgum; follow that up with an ad blitz from his billions of personal dollars (unlike Trump, he is an ACTUAL billionaire) and I think we could Doug perhaps near 10% next week. America loses, and 10% is still low, but that is my take at this time.

Christie will probably be a close 2nd.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Apropos of nothing, Hurd won't be there at all and Suarez is a long shot.

[Sheikh Scott Walker]

Vivek seems like a highly intelligent guy, I think he has strong potential if he can resist the urge to bring up 9/11 conspiracies for a whole 2 hours.

[Beet]

Vivek is the only charismatic guy on there, and it seems he wants it the most. The rest of them are almost all windbag politicians.

[Wiggle Your Yummy Moist Preggers Cake Ben Shapiro]

No "Biden" or "Trump for not showing up" option?

[Progressive Pessimist]

Christie and Ramaswamy probably have the most to gain no matter what happens.

Maybe Burgum, in getting some exposure, could be considered a winner too for that reason alone.

Vivek is the only charismatic guy on there, and it seems he wants it the most. The rest of them are almost all windbag politicians.

Ramaswamy just wants to stay on Trump's good side and put his own name out there for a future spot on Fox News or future run for Ohio office or something higher. If he actually wanted the nomination he would try to figure out some sort of strategy to make himself seem better than Trump rather than be a pathetic lackey of his.