WASHINGTON — The two front-runners in the Republican presidential debate appear to have learned from criticism of their past performances, while the two laggards returned with the same energy and strategy, body language expert Greg Hartley told The Washington Post.
Nikki Haley won the debate on Wednesday, at least when it came to body language, the expert said, as the former UN ambassador appeared calm, calm and collected while on the debate stage — a marked shift from previous performances where she was more “reactive” to her. Attacks by its competitors.
“She performed better across the board than others,” he added. “But it’s not because it was great. It’s because it was contained.”
While the former South Carolina governor had witnessed heated reactions to the attacks in her previous debates, especially from her rival, Vivek Ramaswamy, she maintained her position during the fourth debate.
Not just with her words, but with her actions,” Hartley said.
“She was very emotional about people attacking her,” the former Army investigator said. “I think maybe she should have taken some of that as advice and said, ‘Hey, don’t respond aggressively when someone attacks you.’”
“Who knows why? Did Trump call her and say, ‘Be nice and I’ll take care of you?'” Who knows with these people, he added.
Hartley said Haley took to the stage refreshed after a steady rise in her poll numbers since the last debate, and with that came a more confident — if less enthusiastic — approach.
Entering the debate, she was ranked third with nearly 10%, putting her in third place behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis’ approval rating was around 13.5% before the debate, but that may change after his performance on Wednesday.
“The train wreck of the stage for me — and I hate to say this — was DeSantis,” Hartley said. “He doesn’t know what to do, and he’s not a stupid man, but he’s not comfortable with his condition.”
Hartley noted DeSantis’ “constant fidgeting,” noting that he often rubbed his thighs during the debate, which he said was a major indicator of “nervous energy.”
The governor also continued his habit of punctuating his words with head movements, although it appeared he was trying to avoid the odd trend in the debate’s opening moments.
“If you notice, most people when they show their hand is somewhere between their chin and their navel, and they move their hand a lot,” Hartley said. “He did a fair amount of that until he got to the points he was very passionate about, and then he went right back to that main thing.”
Comparing him to “a dove because he moves his head so much,” Hartley said the movement betrayed the strong, solid leadership image his campaign projected.
“It’s hard to look [like an] “An authoritarian leader is strong when you shake your head as much as he does,” Hartley said. “He needs a coach badly. People win and lose elections based on their appearance.”
As for businessman Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, they performed very similar to their previous performance dating back to July, Hartley said.
For Ramaswamy, this meant that he appeared confident when delivering his campaign messages, but vulnerable when attacking his fellow candidates.
As he delivered messages on his key issues, Ramaswamy’s “fingers and thumbs were separated,” which Hartley said indicated confidence.
“It shows that he is sending [a message] “He’s not worried about how he’ll be perceived,” he said.
But when Ramaswamy returned to his method of attacking his fellow candidates on stage, Hartley noticed a change in the way he held his hands that could be attributed to nerves or weakness.
“When you watch him attack Nikki Haley, his fingers come together and his hands go up,” he said. “So he knows that he may be perceived as poor whether he is consciously or unconsciously known that his body is sending a message.”
Harley said Ramaswamy may be aware of how his attacks resonate with viewers, noting that the youngest candidate is “Trump without the amusement.”
“By that I mean he’s getting the same nasty little attacks, but whatever his message is, it’s missing the entertainment factor that Trump has,” he added. “So Trump is the same guy, he attacks — but it’s funny to the people who are drawn to that.”
Ramaswamy misses that. “There’s no humor in it at all, so it comes across as mean,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chris Christie continued his habit of sliding down his podium as he spoke, the expert said, exuding “energy” only when he attacked Trump, who did not attend the debate.
“Christie is old, and I don’t mean that old. It’s old politics,” Hartley said. “I think he’s out of touch with what happens just by watching his body behave on the stage.”
Hartley said Christie’s slouching and heavy bowing at the podium may be partly “because he’s a big guy, but the only time I saw any real energy from him was when he was criticizing Trump.”
Hartley said he also saw “good emotion” from Christie when he was defending Haley against Ramaswamy’s attacks, another indication of his “old politics,” Hartley said.
A longtime politician and supporter of the debate, Christie’s body language indicated little nerves, though at times he would press his fingers to his face, which Hartley said was an indication of tension.
“The only times I saw him put pressure on his face was when Nikki Haley was being attacked or when people were yelling at each other,” he said. “I felt like there was access to it to try to get some kind of control.”
Nikki Haley’s performance in the fourth GOP debate has been the subject of much analysis and discussion, with many experts pointing to her body language as the key factor in her success. According to one body language expert, Haley’s confident and commanding presence on stage set her apart from the other candidates, making her the clear winner of the debate. In a political landscape where nonverbal communication can be just as important as what is actually said, Haley’s ability to project strength and authority through her body language has undoubtedly given her a significant advantage in the race for the Republican nomination.