Maybe it’s a coincidence or not, but two polls taken after Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate showed that the two youngest candidates on the stage in Milwaukee were considered the “winners” of the two-hour forum.
They are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, age 44, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, age 38.
A Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll found that 29 percent of those surveyed felt DeSantis came out on top, followed by Ramaswamy at 26 percent.
Similarly, a post-debate survey of 1,800 self-identified GOP voters by Leger for the New York Post found that 23% said Ramaswamy won the debate, with DeSantis just behind at 21%.
It’s interesting, in part, because either of those men, if nominated by the GOP, would go up against an opponent far older: President Joe Biden, age 80. (Vice President Kamala Harris is 58.)
Jake Hoffman, the executive director for the Tampa Bay Young Republicans, said he watched the debate on Wednesday and found that he saw a generational gap in some areas. One example was Ukraine.
“If you were to walk into any Republican Executive Committee or Young Republican or any GOP club, it’s going to be extremely unpopular to be funding Ukraine right now or being in these foreign wars, and so that was one big thing that Vivek was able to stand out about and Ron was a little wishy-washy on it,” he said.
Ramaswamy’s opposition to funding Ukraine in the debate alienated some of his opponents on stage like Nikki Haley, who formerly served as the United Nations Ambassador in the Trump administration. “You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” Haley told him.
DeSantis responded by saying that he would stop aid to Ukraine unless European governments began to “pull their weight.”
Ramaswamy is by far the youngest Republican in the race at 38. DeSantis, 44, is the second youngest. (He turns 45 next month.)
The only other Republican presidential candidates in their 40s – Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (45) and former Texas Congressman Wil Hurd (46), did not qualify for Wednesday’s debate.
Haley is the next youngest at 51, followed by South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (57), former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (60 turning 61 next month), former Vice President Mike Pence (64), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (67), former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (72) and Donald Trump, who turned 77 in June.
Ramaswamy has received the most buzz following Wednesday’s debate and is likely to have his record more closely scrutinized in the weeks ahead.
But Hoffman said one policy stance, coming from Ramaswamy, turns off young Republicans. It’s about Ramaswamy’s proposal to raise the voting age in the U.S. from 18 to 25, unless younger Americans fulfill at least six months of service in the military or as a first responder — or pass the same citizenship test administered to those seeking to become naturalized citizens.
“I think it’s very bad messaging for young people in general,” says Hoffman. “How do you go on college campuses and recruit Democrats or independents to go come to your party when you say, ‘hey, we don’t think you should vote but you should join our side.” I think it’s just a losing message overall. I get the sentiment that you want people to be informed voters but that’s just not the way to do it.”
Haley finished third at 15 percent in the Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll after Wednesday’s debate and has received positive reviews about her debate performance.
Hoffman says it was her comments on issues like abortion that was appealing to a younger generation. For example, Haley remarked that: “Can’t we all agree that contraception should be available, and can’t we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion? Let’s treat this like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing the situation.”
“There is a constituency of Republicans who want to hear that, and she was the only one on stage offering that opinion,” Hoffman said.
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix