A new poll found that a majority of voters said Vice President Harris received a higher approval rating than former President Trump during the party's first and likely only debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
CNN Flash VotingIn a survey conducted by SSRS, nearly 63% of registered voters said they thought the vice president performed better in the debates, while about 37% said the same about Trump.
The poll found that about 96% of Harris supporters said after the debate that their candidate won, compared with 69% of Trump supporters who said the Republican candidate won.
The forum marked the first time the two candidates met in person, and Ms Harris delivered a sharp performance on stage as she debated Mr Trump on topics including foreign policy, abortion, the economy and immigration. Her strategy of trying to rile up Mr Trump seemed to work, leaving the former president visibly annoyed.
The poll found that about 45% of people have a favorable view of Harris, compared with just 44% who have an unfavorable view — still a 6 percentage point increase from just 39% who said they had a favorable view of her before the debate.
The event didn't seem to make a difference for the former president: Trump's approval ratings remained roughly the same pre- and post-debate, with 39% of respondents saying they had a favorable view of him and 51% saying they had an unfavorable view.
The vice president saw an 18 percentage point increase in her approval rating among those who identify as political independents. The poll found that her favorability rating among them soared to 48 percent after the debate, well above the 30 percent mark before Tuesday's debate.
Nearly equal numbers of debate viewers (54%) said they have at least some confidence in each party's candidates to lead the country, with about 36% saying they have a lot of confidence in Trump and 32% saying the same about Harris.
Among voters who watched the debate, the former president held a 20-point lead on his approach to economic policy, 55% to 35%, and a 23% lead on immigration, the survey found. Highlight These differences were revealed in a post on Truth Social early Wednesday morning.
After the debate, the poll showed Harris with a 21-point lead on abortion and a nine-point lead on defending democracy.
A majority of registered voters, 82%, said the debates had no impact on their choice to vote in November. About 14% said the debates made them reconsider but did not change their support for any candidate. Only 4% said they changed their presidential vote after the debates, according to the survey.
The CNN poll was conducted Tuesday among 605 U.S. voters and had a margin of error of 5.3 percentage points.
