Biden Vs. Trump: Flash Poll Picks Debate Winner, But Over One-Third Of Voters Doubt His Ability To Lead

The first presidential debate is done and dusted, and results of a flash poll showed that presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump has won hands down.

Biden Vs. Trump: Among the debate watchers, 67% said Trump put in a better performance in late Thursday’s 90-minute debate televised live from CNN’s studio in Atlanta, the flash survey conducted by SSRS on behalf of CNN showed. Only half as many respondents (33%) rated Biden’s performance better.

The survey was done via text messages on Thursday with 565 registered voters who watched the debate.

96% of Republican watchers said Trump did a better job in the debate, whereas only 69% of the Democrats felt the same about Biden.

Among the GOP debate watchers, 85% said Trump did more to address concerns about his ability to handle the presidency. A far more modest 53% of the Democratic debate watchers said Biden did a better job at addressing concerns. 27% of respondents said neither candidate did much to allay concerns about their abilities.

CNN clarified that the audience is slightly more Republican-leaning than all registered voters nationally.

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Impacted Choice? The debate apparently had done little to alter voter preference from either side of the aisle. 81% of registered voters who watched the debate said it had no effect on their choice of president. 14% said it prompted them to reconsider but did not change their mind, while 5% said it changed their minds about whom to vote for.

3% each of Biden and Trump supporters said the debate changed their minds. The poll found that the debate changed the minds of a larger share of those supporting candidates other than the two mainstream candidates.

Among the debate watchers, 48% said they would consider voting only for Trump and 40% said they would consider voting only for Biden, 2% said they would consider both candidates and 11% said they wouldn’t consider voting for either.

Confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country is on the wane amid his struggles in the debate, with 57% of the debate watchers saying they have no real confidence in his ability to lead the country. A more modest 44% said they have no real confidence in Trump’s ability to do so. On the other hand, 36% said they have a lot of confidence in Trump’s ability to lead compared to 14% who said the same about Biden.

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