Debate Watchers Give Biden The Edge, But 20% Undecided

Even though President Trump did most of the talking, debate watchers tend to see Democrat Joe Biden as the winner, although a sizable number remain undecided.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 84% of Likely U.S. Voters watched at least part of the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden. Of these voters, 44% say Biden won versus 36% who claim Trump is the winner. But 20% are not sure.(To see survey question wording, click here.)

Thirteen percent (13%) of the debate watchers said the debate changed their mind about whom they’re going to vote for.

Republicans (91%) are more likely to have watched the debate than Democrats (84%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (78%).

Sixty-three percent (63%) of GOP watchers think Trump won. Seventy-two percent (72%) of Democrat watchers disagree and see Biden as the winner. Among unaffiliated voters, 39% say Biden won, 32% Trump, but 29% are not sure.

Republicans (19%) are more likely than Democrats (12%) and unaffiliateds (7%) to say the debate changed their mind.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted September 30-October 1, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Following Trump’s announcement of a U.S. Supreme Court nominee just weeks before Election Day, Biden has jumped out to an eight-point lead in Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch survey. The survey released Wednesday does not include reaction to the first Trump-Biden debate.

The older the voter, the more likely they are to believe Biden won the debate. But roughly 20% of voters of all ages are undecided.

Those under 40 are far more likely than their elders to say the debate changed their mind about whom they’re going to vote for.

Blacks (72%) were less likely to watch the debate than whites (84%) and other minority voters (92%). Debate watchers in all three groups give Biden the win. Blacks are the most convinced he won, but they are also the most likely to be undecided.

Twenty percent (20%) of other minority voters say the debate changed their mind about whom they’re going to vote for, compared to 11% of both whites and blacks.

Voters say the presidential debates are less important than they were four years ago. Perhaps in part that’s because just over half continue to say they’re likely to vote against Trump this fall. A sizable majority of those voters don’t seem to care who runs against him.

Voters again this year think debate moderators are a lot more likely to help the Democrat presidential nominee over Trump. They suspect the media plays favorites, too, when fact-checking what the candidates say.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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