“Vivek is increasingly compelling” – Elon Musk hailed Vivek Ramaswamy after GOP debate 2024

Elon Musk wrote: “Vivek is increasingly compelling.”

The survey of 1,665 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Aug. 17 to 21, shows that DeSantis’s support among potential GOP primary voters has fallen farther — and faster — over the last few weeks than ever before, plummeting from his previous low of 23% in mid-July to just 12% today.

Vivek Ramaswamy surges

To put the governor’s 11-point collapse in perspective, DeSantis was actually leading former President Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup, by 45% to 41%, as recently as February. And while the governor’s standing has steadily declined since then — a glitchy campaign announcement and a series of unforced errors haven’t helped matters — he has nonetheless tended to place a clear second in soundings of the full GOP field for much of the year.

It’s also ironic considering this is a Republican National Committee-sponsored debate, an RNC Trump has stacked with loyalists. Instead, as he’s done before, Trump will be counterprogramming this Fox News debate, appearing instead in an interview that is set to air at the same time as the debate with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host.

Drama. We have some questions. Here are five of the biggest.

Not anymore, however. According to the new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, DeSantis is now just 4 points ahead of the tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (at 8%, up from 3% previously). For the first time, more Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they’re “not sure” whom they would support if their state’s primary were held today (14%) than say they would support DeSantis.

Let’s get right to the obvious — former President Donald Trump, the far-and-away frontrunner for the GOP nomination again, will not be at the Republican Party’s first presidential primary debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

Why? He’s refusing to sign a pledge to support whomever the nominee will be, proving once again that Trump believes today’s Republican Party is a party of one. It’s ironic that Trump is making this decision because the pledge was largely intended to benefit him — to make sure the other candidates would be on board with another Trump run and not display any disunity within the party.