Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, arrived in New Hampshire on Friday for the beginning of a six-day, three-state blitz — essentially the most in depth marketing campaign swing since saying his run for the White House.

But any momentum Mr. Scott had hoped to convey was as lacking as he was throughout lengthy stretches of the primary Republican main debate on Wednesday.

During the two-hour debate in Milwaukee, Mr. Scott spoke for less than 8 minutes 15 seconds, based on The New York Times’s time tracker — a full 4 minutes lower than the main talker, former Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Scott flashed moments of humor however usually pale fully into the background. And he wasn’t focused by his rivals, nor did he goal them.

In the race to be the main Republican various to former President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Scott had entered Wednesday’s debate seemingly primed for the primary actual second of consequence for his marketing campaign. He and his allies had flooded the airwaves in Iowa with essentially the most promoting of any Republican. He had inched upward within the polls. The candidate he was most intently chasing, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, had slipped. And main donors had been giving him recent consideration.

But voters on Friday at three New Hampshire occasions within the capital metropolis of Concord and the city of Hooksett mentioned he had not but set himself aside from the pack, at the same time as they praised the senator’s constructive message and likability. Several Republicans and independents open to supporting him expressed disappointment that Mr. Scott was not even seen sufficient to render a judgment.

“He was one that I wanted to hear more from,” mentioned Allyson Vaschon, 57, who was at a diner in Concord the place Mr. Scott shook arms and met voters on Friday afternoon. “I did like some of his answers but they were brief, and again, time just wasn’t allotted.”

Ms. Vaschon blamed the format greater than Mr. Scott, who has defended his debate efficiency by saying it was a “food fight” quite than a substantive dialog. He informed reporters in Hooksett on Friday that his closing assertion on the debate, which touched on his rise from poverty to the presidential marketing campaign, was the best message of the evening.

The back-and-forth amongst his opponents on the stage “does not necessarily help anyone except for the media and Joe Biden,” Mr. Scott mentioned.

Early indicators have pointed to lagging enthusiasm for his debate efficiency.

A Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos survey of Republicans after the talk confirmed that solely 4 p.c believed Mr. Scott had received, inserting him towards the again of the pack. And of the eight candidates onstage, together with Mr. Trump, Mr. Scott’s title was tied for final for the share of Google searches within the week main as much as and after the talk, based on the corporate’s search trend data. The day after the talk, he garnered solely 3 p.c of the candidate searches, which could be a metric of voter curiosity. Atop the search listing on Thursday morning was Vivek Ramaswamy, the previous biotechnology government and political newcomer who was the debate’s dominant character.

Eric Levine, a New York lawyer and Republican donor who attended the talk as a visitor of Mr. Scott’s marketing campaign, mentioned he believed the senator had received by staying above the fray. But he acknowledged that “perhaps he could have been a little more aggressive,” and mentioned that he had heard the identical from different donors.

“I guess he made a little bit of a mistake in believing that rules matter,” Mr. Levine mentioned of Mr. Scott’s determination to usually wait till referred to as upon quite than insert himself into the fracas.

Mr. Scott struck an identical notice at a “Politics and Pies” occasion in Concord on Friday night, telling a gaggle of greater than 50 New Hampshire Republicans that he acknowledged that “following the rules does not give you more time.” He added, “So, lesson learned. Now, the next debate, I’m going to remember that lesson, but I’m also going to comport myself in the same fashion.”

Gail Gitcho, a Republican strategist who has labored on previous presidential campaigns and is unaligned within the 2024 race, mentioned Mr. Scott’s exhibiting amounted to a missed alternative for a candidate whose tremendous PAC has already reserved $40 million in advertising, essentially the most of anybody within the main.

“Tim Scott is built for this race,” Ms. Gitcho mentioned. “He has the resources to go the distance. He has a life story unlike anybody else. But he didn’t break through.”

As Mr. DeSantis has dipped, the seek for different potential Trump alternate options has intensified. In the realm the place Republican National Committee members had been assembly in Milwaukee, one individual named a wi-fi sizzling spot “Glenn Youngkin Needs to Run,” a reference to the Republican governor of Virginia.

Mr. Scott had ready for the talk, his first ever on the nationwide stage, by bringing on one in all his celebration’s extra famous debate coaches, Mari Will, as a senior adviser. Yet along with his restricted time, Mr. Scott didn’t discover the chance to dive absolutely into the private historical past that has undergirded his candidacy, particularly how his household went “from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” as he put it in his 2020 conference speech.

Mr. Scott was the only real Black candidate on the stage in a celebration the place a Black Republican presidential contender has surged, at the least briefly, to the highest of the polls within the final two open presidential primaries. In 2012, it was the pizza magnate Herman Cain. In 2016, it was the mind surgeon Ben Carson.

Both shortly pale. But Mr. Scott has a much more formidable political résumé.

Ahead of the talk, Mr. Scott’s allies and aides had mentioned his message would stay constructive whereas being direct sufficient to separate himself from the crowded main area. Days earlier than, Mr. Scott had traded a lot of his upbeat stump speech for a extra forceful, policy-focused deal with at a conservative gathering in Georgia.

For months, Mr. Scott, who favors contrasting alliterations like “victory and victimhood” and “grievance and greatness,” has tried to beat again questions on his toughness. When requested about his messaging technique at a donor retreat this spring, Mr. Scott assured supporters that he would be capable of push again if challenged.

Toward the tip of Wednesday’s debate, moderators requested Mr. Scott a query — a couple of president’s function in restoring spiritual religion within the nation — that appeared aligned along with his marketing campaign message. Yet Mr. Scott’s response was surprisingly transient. The nation, he mentioned, “was founded on the Judeo-Christian values,” after which he quoted Scripture.

“Our responsibility should be to model the behavior we want others to follow,” he mentioned. He then shortly added some extent about training reform, vowing to “break the backs of the teachers’ unions.”

His reply, which got here in the course of the lightning spherical of questions, lasted roughly 37 seconds. At different factors within the debate, he usually fell wanting utilizing his allotted time for solutions — a distinction with a lot of his opponents, who at one level needed to be reminded that the closing bell signified their have to cease speaking.

At the Concord diner on Friday, David Coffey, 79, an unbiased voter and a former schoolteacher, challenged Mr. Scott about his reluctance to instantly criticize Mr. Trump after the senator had launched himself. That prompted Mr. Scott to hitch him at his desk.

“You’re avoiding standing up for his past,” Mr. Coffey informed Mr. Scott as a waitress set down plates of bacon, eggs and pancakes. “You don’t want to lose all his votes — I get you. But when you go to Russia, when you go to China, how are you going to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I can’t do that’?”

“It’s very easy,” Mr. Scott responded, saying it will require the president to “stand toe-to-toe” with adversaries.

“You’re not standing toe-to-toe with somebody who you don’t accept as president,” Mr. Coffey replied.

“Do you want to have a conversation, or do you want to have a dialogue?” Mr. Scott requested Mr. Coffey. “If you want to have a dialogue, I’d love to have it.”

Mr. Scott described moments when he had challenged Mr. Trump throughout his presidency, and defined his perception that the Department of Justice was “broken.” After Mr. Scott left the desk, Mr. Coffey informed reporters that he was leaning towards supporting former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey within the Republican main — somebody whose hearth towards Mr. Trump he admired.

“Scott is a politician — not that Christie isn’t,” Mr. Coffey mentioned, including of Mr. Scott: “He avoided what I wanted to hear him say. But he’s got a nice presence to him.”