How did Tim Scott prepare for the 2nd presidential debate? WWE wrestling, he jokes in Iowa

Republican presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott joked to Iowans on the campaign trail that he watched professional wrestling to prepare for his more aggressive posture in last month's second presidential debate.

"My first debate, I thought it was going to be this adult conversation. Lord, have mercy on my soul. The second debate … I started watching WWE wrestling and figured out how to get in the game," he said, drawing laughs from the audience at his Tuesday night town hall in Van Meter, Iowa.

Scott, who largely faded into the background during the first debate in Milwaukee as other candidates lobbed attacks and grappled for airtime around him, came out swinging at the second debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

But whether the feisty approach will pay off with Iowans remains to be seen.

He sparred over experience with fellow South Carolinian and former Gov. Nikki Haley and took on Vivek Ramaswamy for having done business with China.

In recent polls, Scott has ranked third among Republican caucus voters in Iowa, behind Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

In an August Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, Scott received 9% support. On the trail, Scott, who leans heavily on his genial personality and largely avoids criticism of other Republicans, has made some prospective voters debate whether his "nice guy" persona is an advantage or hindrance.

Grimes resident Denise Bubeck, who was one of the roughly 160 attendees at Scott's Tuesday town hall event, believes the senator does "better" in a town hall setting than a debate stage.

"Those debates are just a debacle to me. I'm not happy with the debates," she said. "I think he did say more, but I don't think he still got his message out as clear as he can in a setting like this."

Her husband, Dave Bubeck, blamed Fox News moderators' inability to keep the candidates in check during the event. He said turning the mics off would have allowed candidates to speak their piece without appearing "uncivil with one another."

Bubeck says Scott, along with Haley and DeSantis, are in his top three choices.

"Tonight, his message is crystal clear," he said. "The other night at the debate, people are left thinking about the bickering between him and Nikki. It's like utterly ridiculous and a misrepresentation of who both of them actually are."

Van Meter resident Gerald Graves, who came to scope out Scott on Tuesday, said he admired Scott's message of "belief" and "faith" in America and appreciated the senator's refrain from "pandering" to the crowd in his responses to questions.

Graves says he's still weighing his options among presidential candidates, but noted Scott is now on his "short list." Trump, he added, is not among his choices.

"I don't think he's electable, I don't like some of his methods, personality," Graves said.

Denise Bubeck says she has a list of her top three candidates but refrains from publicly disclosing her favorites because of her position as a member of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women. Bubeck, who says she and her husband have seen just about all of the candidates, has found redeemable qualities in many of them.

"If I could put a few of them in a blender, I think we'd have a really good candidate," she said.

Bubeck would place Scott among the most decisive candidates, praising his "strong" stance on abortion and school vouchers. Scott, who is striving on the campaign trail to appeal to Iowa evangelical voters, has called multiple times for a 15-week federal abortion ban.

"Some of the candidates have been not as firm on that," Bubeck said.

"What women are looking for right now … is someone who's going to win against President Biden," Bubeck said, citing inflation, border security, and parents' rights among the chief issues. Scott is he's rising to the top in these conversations, she said.

She also lauded Scott's approach to an audience question asking how he would restore the power of the U.S. dollar and lower inflation. Scott said the fastest way to reduce inflation is to "stop spending what we don't have and buying what you can't afford." He said inflation would not be where it is today had it not been for the loss of two Republican senate seats in Georgia in 2021, which allowed President Joe Biden to spend a $4 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

"I thought it was a really crisp message of where we're at, Bubeck said. "To me that was some of the best messaging of where we're at as a county. We don't do our budget like that at home. It's just driving people crazy."

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tim Scott figured out how to 'get in the game' in 2nd debate with WWE