With the election coming up next year, people are worried about who they’re gonna vote for. Donald Trump or maybe Joe Biden. Maybe even one of the rookie candidates who has never been in the spotlight before. 

This year, Trump had the luck none of us had. He didn’t have to see the debate given, he was behind bars in the state of Georgia. Those who had participated in the debate were Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson. 

Polls from after the debate show Trump still managed to have the upper hand. He is reported to be leading with around a 49% in the polls, leaving all the actual debate participants in the dust. According to fairvote.org, who describes themselves as “nonpartisan organization seeking better elections for all,” if Trump wasn’t in the back of voters’ minds, DeSantis and Ramaswamy would be doing better in the polls. DeSantis would more than likely lead with 40% of voters’ with Ramaswamy earning 21%.

Surprisingly, Ramaswamy dominated the debate when everyone was expecting a powerful performance from DeSantis. Ramaswamy overshadowed his opponents which put a shiny target on his back. He was the rookie, which made him the easiest person to put down in the race. In fact, according to NBC News’ statistical analysis of the debate, Ramaswamy was attacked more than any other participant on the stage, being verbally attacked 11 times by the other participants. Though, he did attack other candidates the most, pouncing on the chance for remark as he bombarded the other participants 16 times on his own. While Scott attacked others the least, not asserting that dominance needed to help his image in this battle.

The real question is who even won? From the back and forth between the participants and the unsatisfactory answers provided, the winner of this debate seems a bit unclear.

“Trump won the debate,” AP Government teacher Thomas Gratto said. “Unfortunately, I think he came out on top because none of the debate participants managed to overshadow his legacy. Even though he wasn’t there, he still had this presence that overtook the debate. Let’s hope the second debate has better moderation.” 

So, will the second debate this week be anything like the first one? If it is, I’m not sure how many people will be tuning into that cat-fight.