Nikki Haley won the debate Wednesday, at least when it comes to body language, the expert said as the former UN ambassador appeared calm, cool and collected while on the debate stage – a noticeable shift from past performances where she was more “reactive” to her challengers’ attacks.
The two frontrunners in the Republican presidential debate seemed to have learned from criticism of their past performances, while those trailing behind returned with the same energy and strategy, body language expert Greg Hartley told The Post.
Nikki Haley won the debate Wednesday, at least when it comes to body language, the expert said as the former UN ambassador appeared calm, cool and collected while on the debate stage – a noticeable shift from past performances where she was more “reactive” to her challengers’ attacks.
“She did better across the board than the other folks,” he said. “But it’s not because she was brilliant. It’s because she was contained.”
While in previous debates the former South Carolina governor had heated reactions to attacks, particularly from rival Vivek Ramaswamy, she held her ground during the fourth debate.
Not just with her words, but with her actions, Hartley said.
“She had been very emotional about people attacking her,” the former Army interrogator said. “I think probably she had to take some of that under advisement and say, ‘Hey, don’t respond so aggressively when somebody attacks you.’”
“Who knows why? Did Trump call her and say, ‘Be nice and I’ll take care of you.’ Who knows with those folks,” he added.
Haley came to the stage fresh off of a steady rise in her polling numbers since the last debate, and with that came a more confident – if less firey – approach, Hartley said.
Coming into the debate, she was polling third at roughly 10%, placing her in third behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis was polling at about 13.
