Topline
Early polls taken after the debate found voters believed Joe Biden performed better than President Trump during the raucous 90-minute event, a sign voters may have been turned off by the president’s abrasive notion of what constitutes a debate, in which he constantly interrupted and talked over Biden.
Key Facts
Six in ten voters said Biden won the debate Tuesday, while just 28% said Trump did, a CNN poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS found.
An even larger majority (65%) said Biden was “more truthful” in his answers than Trump was (29%), according to the CNN survey.
63% of voters said Biden had a better plan for solving the country’s problems than Trump (30%).
Biden was also victorious in a CBS News/YouGov poll taken after the debate, with 48% of voters saying that Biden won, while 41% said the same about Trump (10% said the debate was a tie).
Voters in the CBS News/YouGov survey, however, were down about the tone of the debate, with 83% of viewers saying it was “negative,” while just 17% said it was positive.
69% of voters said the debate made them feel “annoyed,” a possible indication that the chaotic nature of the debate was not well received by Americans.
51% of debate watchers in a poll from Data Progress said Biden won, while 39% said the same about Trump.
Key Background
CNN said its post-debate survey result is “about the same” as the breakdown in 2016, when 62% of voters said Hillary Clinton won the debate, while 27% said Trump did.
Big Number
57%. That’s the percentage of respondents in the CNN survey who said the debate “did not affect their choice for president.” Of the people who said the debate did affect their pick, 32% said they became more likely to cast their ballot for Biden, while 11% said the same about Trump.
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