Marco Rubio has said his
poor debate performance last Saturday led to his fifth-place finish in New Hampshire's primary election a few days later, but exit polls aren't showing that the debate hurt Rubio.
Forty-seven percent of the state's Republican voters said they chose their candidate on Election Day or the few days before,
ABC News reports, and just 12 percent of those people voted for Rubio.
The others had made up their minds before the debate, but 10 percent of them chose Rubio.
Further, 67 percent said the debates were an important factor in how they voted, but just 10 percent voted for Rubio. Out of the 33 percent left, they said the debates did not matter to them, and 12 percent voted for Rubio.
According to the ABC analysis, the results showed that Rubio's support didn't change significantly no matter when people decided how they were going to vote, and even if they said whether the debates were an important factor in their vote.
Rubio's campaign did not comment on ABC's findings.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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