Trump overwhelming winner of GOP debate for Georgia voters at debate watch party

A group of Georgia voters conducted a straw poll at a watch party for the fourth GOP primary debate, which found that, despite his absence from the stage, Trump was the clear winner.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie received just one vote, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received two votes, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy received 5 votes.

The clear winner, though, was 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who, like the other three debates, chose not to attend, receiving 18 votes.

One voter told NBC News that "they talk too much about Trump, a man that wasn’t on the stage but rules the stage."

Georgia’s primary election will take place on March 12. Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, winning 49.5 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 49.2 percent. Trump won the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016, winning 51.3 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 45.6 percent.

A recent poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies in partnership with the Telegraph found that Trump was leading Biden by 10 points in Georgia, at 45 to 33 percent, respectively.

Voters overwhelmingly said the economy was the most important issue in determining how they would vote in the 2024 election, with 40 percent of Georgia voters responding as such. Georgia voters said Trump was better equipped to handle getting the economy back on track than Biden, at 50 to 34 percent.