As President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump prepare to face off in the first debate to be held late Thursday, the results of two separate surveys threw up almost similar results about public reaction to the survey.
Majority Interested But Influenced? About six in 10 adults surveyed said they are “extremely” or “very likely” to watch the debate live or in clips or read about or listen to commentary about the performance of the candidates in the news or social media, a new AP-NORC Center For Public Affairs Research poll showed.
The poll surveyed 1,088 adults between June 20-24 and the margin of sampling error of the survey is +/- four points.
A majority of the Democrats (55%) think the upcoming debate is “extremely” or “very important” for the success of the Biden campaign. A more modest 51% of the Republicans felt the debate was important for Trump’s campaign. Only 40% of the independents said the debate was highly important for either of the candidates.
Both candidates failed to evince confidence among voters. About six in 10 U.S. adults said they have a very or somewhat unfavorable view regarding Biden and a similar proportion said the same about Trump.
About three in 10 U.S. adults are dissatisfied with both Trump and Biden as their party's likely nominees, with independents and Democrats being more likely than Republicans to be dissatisfied with both.
A separate survey by Canadian data analytics company Leger showed that interest in the debate was “reasonably high,” with 50% of Americans planning to watch the televised debate between Trump and Biden. Thirty percent said they don’t plan to, while 21% said they don’t know.
The proportion of Republicans, Democrats and independents, who said they would watch the debate was at 65%, 56% and 40%, respectively. 42% of the women and 58% of the men said they would watch the debate.
A singularity of respondents (42%) said Trump is the favorite to win the debate and 29% said Biden will win. Among Republicans, 83% rooted for a Trump win compared to a more modest 60% of the Democrats, who backed Biden to come on top.
Notwithstanding the views, only 10% said the upcoming debate could potentially change their choice of candidate, 75% said the debate would have no impact on their preference and 15% were unsure.
Why It’s Important: The debate, hosted by CNN, will be telecast live from Atlanta. The presidential debate is atypically held early this year and it is governed by a set of new rules including no mic for the participant who is not speaking and a lack of live audience in the studio.
Most opinion polls suggest a close contest is in the cards in the 2024 election that is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Wajahat Ali, a columnist, who appeared in a show hosted by Trump’s niece Mary Trump said Biden's role in the debate should be of a "dignified fighter." "Biden needs to be on message and say ‘I will fight for your freedoms. He will take away your freedoms and just stay on message," he said.
Former White House aide Anthony Scaramucci said in a recent episode of a podcast he co-hosts that there has been a lack of granularity or substance in recent presidential debates. “This is an entertainment contest, this is a popularity contest. this is no longer a hiring decision,” he said.
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