A new poll finds that voters are largely in agreement about what they want President Biden and former President Trump to say in Thursday night’s first presidential debate, but they are divided on how it should be said.
investigation, Conducted by CBS News and YouGovThe survey found that Democrats want Biden to take a more “assertive” tone in the debate, while Republicans expect Trump to take a “polite” approach.
Sixty-eight percent of Democrats said Biden should take a more forceful tone on stage, while 70% of Republicans said Trump should be more polite.
Independents are divided on how Biden should perform: 47% say Biden should debate forcefully, while 53% say Biden should debate civilly. Independents are more likely to say Trump should debate civilly rather than forcefully.
Thursday’s debate, to be broadcast by CNN, will be the third time Trump and Biden have faced off on a debate stage, but it will be the first time that the candidates will appeal to voters in this election.
The survey found that many voters have already decided who they will vote for and relatively few believe anything will happen that will change how they vote in November.
One in five people who plan to watch the debates hope they will help them decide who to vote for, a sentiment that surveys show is more prevalent among younger voters.
The majority of voters, 63 percent, will watch television to see how the candidates address key policy issues. Some voters will focus on whether Trump and Biden are cognitively fit to serve as president, a concern lawmakers from both parties have expressed with Biden at 81 and Trump recently turning 78.
More than half of respondents said Biden should try to avoid onstage mistakes, and 68 percent thought Biden should stick to his plans for the future.
The first 2020 debate was a chaotic affair, with insults hurled, interruptions from each candidate and shocking moderators, but Biden and Trump agreed to a set of rules outlined by CNN, including muting their microphones.
The survey found that 40% of people said they watch debates for entertainment.
Democrats are more comfortable than Republicans saying their candidate would win the debate: 79% of Republicans say Trump would win the debate, while 58% of Democrats say Biden would win, and 35% of left-leaning Democrats say they don’t know who will win.
The survey was conducted among 2,032 people between June 24 and 26 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
