Young Republicans see Ramaswamy, Haley and DeSantis as winners
NBC News is at a watch party organized by the University of Iowa College Republicans in Iowa City.
Of the 10 young Republicans who stayed for entire two-hour debate, five say Ramaswamy won, three say Haley won, and two say DeSantis won.
As for who lost, eight students say Christie lost, and two students say Ramaswamy lost.
Sophie Claus, a junior business student and president of Students for Life at the University of Iowa, said Haley won the debate in her eyes when she stood for the sanctity of life. “When she started talking about her pro-life views, that’s when I really started backing her," Claus said.
Sophomore Kyle Clare said Ramaswamy “showed his inexperience” tonight.
Pence, Ramaswamy spar in heated Republican debate
Swing voters 'likely' to be put off by candidates' abortion messaging
Swing voters may be influenced by the debate if Democrats find an opening to exploit candidates' vulnerabilities, for example on abortion, said Rich Thau, the moderator of the Swing Voter Project.
"Most of these swing voters are pro-choice, and tonight's messages will likely put them off when Dems highlight it," he said.
Chart: The most-targeted candidates on the stage
Ramaswamy commanded the most attacks in the debate, with 11. See the full debate attack tracker here.
Young voters sour on Ramaswamy as debate continues
NBC News organized a debate watch party at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, with eight independent voters ages 18 to 22. Seven of them lean Republican and one more to the left (but will be voting in the GOP primary).
Six of the eight voters at a watch party in New Hampshire organized by NBC News liked what Ramaswamy had to say at the beginning of the debate.
As the debate continued, none of them had a favorable impression of Ramaswamy.
“I don’t really like him. He just went downhill so fast,” said Kay Donahue, 19.
Molly Bentley, 18, echoed that opinion, saying, “He’s digging himself a lot of holes.”
Ethan Dupuis, 19, said, “Vivek is really starting, based off his opinions, is giving strong wannabe Trump vibes.”
Other voters agreed Ramaswamy sounded Trumpian. “He was trying to act too much like Trump,” said Max Bedard, 20.
Josh Paul, 21, did not like what Ramaswamy said about mental health.
“He said that mental health issues can be solved by faith. I’m on antidepressants. I go to therapy. A lot of my friends do. People struggled during Covid,” Paul said. “To say that you can just pray away your mental health problems is probably the most offensive thing I’ve ever seen a politician say, especially when you’re trying to appeal to a youth vote in a country that has struggled so much with mental health over the last few years.”
Ramaswamy says the 'climate change agenda' is a hoax
Vance: Stop wasting Republican money
Sen. JD Vance of Ohio says that while “a lot of the people onstage are nice,” none of them are Trump, and none of them can win the primary.
“Let’s end this charade and stop wasting Republican money attacking our inevitable nominee. Donald Trump for president,” Vance posted on X. He has endorsed Trump.
The UFO question was a missed opportunity
It's too bad the UFO question didn’t have a more specific policy ask or really move the ball forward at all. Fox just kind of lobed the topic in Christie’s general direction for no apparent reason.
Christie invokes Jon Corzine
Christie pointed to an accomplishment that does distinguish him on the debate stage — that he defeated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine to be elected governor of New Jersey.
Incumbents aren't unseated often, particularly Democrats in blue states. And Christie's pointing to his surprising win in 2009 was an attempt to capitalize on that.
Christie finds UFOs ... an unusual question
Christie was almost stumped when he was asked whether as president he’d tell the American people the truth about UFOs, but he managed to pivot to education — saying the teachers union is the biggest threat to education, not UFOs.