A recent flash poll conducted by CNN revealed that a majority of viewers believe former President Donald Trump won the latest presidential debate against President Joe Biden. The poll, carried out by SSRS, showed that 67% of debate watchers thought Trump outperformed Biden, while only 33% felt Biden had the upper hand. This sentiment marks a significant shift from the 2020 debates, where Biden was seen as the stronger performer.
The debate, held in Atlanta, saw Biden struggling with his responses, often stumbling over answers and appearing to have low energy. In contrast, Trump appeared more vigorous and confident, despite making several provocative statements and false claims. The Independent reported that Biden’s performance was so lackluster that it sparked immediate concerns among Democrats, with some even calling for him to be replaced as the party’s nominee.
Republicans who watched the debate expressed overwhelming confidence in Trump’s performance, with 96% of GOP viewers saying he did a better job. On the other hand, only 69% of Democratic viewers believed Biden was the night’s winner. Additionally, 85% of GOP debate watchers felt Trump addressed concerns about his ability to handle the presidency better than Biden, while only 53% of Democratic viewers felt the same about their candidate.
The poll’s results are based solely on the opinions of those who watched the debate and are not representative of the entire voting public. The audience for the debate was slightly more Republican-leaning, with debate watchers being 5 points more likely to be Republican-aligned than Democratic-aligned.
Interestingly, 81% of registered voters who watched the debate said it had no effect on their choice for president. Another 14% said it made them reconsider but didn’t change their mind, and only 5% said it changed their minds about whom to vote for. Among those who were undecided or open to changing their minds before the debate, 9% said the debate had changed their minds, and 25% were reconsidering their options.
The poll also revealed that just 3% of Trump supporters would consider voting for Biden, while 5% of Biden supporters would consider voting for Trump. Overall, 48% of debate watchers said they would only consider voting for Trump, 40% for Biden, 2% were considering both candidates, and 11% were not considering voting for either.
A significant 57% majority of debate watchers said they have no real confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country, while 44% expressed similar doubts about Trump. These numbers remained largely unchanged from a pre-debate poll, where 55% lacked confidence in Biden and 47% in Trump. Only 36% of debate watchers now say they have a lot of confidence in Trump’s ability to lead, compared to just 14% for Biden.
The share of Democratic debate watchers expressing a lot of confidence in Biden’s ability to lead fell from 54% before the debate to just 39% afterward. In contrast, 69% of Republicans said post-debate that they have a lot of confidence in Trump, similar to the 73% who held that opinion before the debate.
Debate watchers also believed Trump would handle key issues better than Biden. They felt Trump would do a better job on immigration (55% to 27%), the economy (56% to 31%), and foreign policy (47% to 35%). However, they trusted Biden more on protecting democracy (44% to 38%) and abortion (42% to 34%).
When asked who offered a better plan for solving the country’s problems, 42% of voters who watched the debate said Trump did, compared to 27% for Biden, with another 27% saying neither candidate offered a better plan. Additionally, 48% of debate watchers felt Trump better addressed concerns about his ability to handle the presidency, compared to 23% for Biden and 22% who felt neither candidate did.
Following the debate, Biden’s favorability among debate watchers dipped slightly, with only 31% viewing him favorably compared to 37% in the pre-debate survey. In contrast, 43% of debate watchers viewed Trump favorably, similar to the 40% who had positive views of him before the debate.
The CNN flash poll was conducted via text message with 565 registered US voters who watched the debate. The findings are representative of the views of debate watchers only and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
Source: CNN, The Independent, Fox News
