A majority of registered voters who watched the first 2024 presidential debate believe former President Donald Trump defeated President Biden in a landslide victory, a new flash poll released Friday found.
The poll found that 67% of respondents said Trump, 76, performed better in Thursday night’s debate, while just 33% said Biden, 81, was the clear winner. CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.
The poll also found that a majority of debate viewers (57%) have less confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country than his Republican rival (44%).
What’s even more concerning is that the percentage of Democratic debate viewers who had a lot of confidence in Biden’s leadership abilities before the debate dropped from 54% to just 39% after the debate.
Meanwhile, 69% of Republicans who watched the debate said they had a lot of confidence in Trump after the debate, compared with 73% who said the same before.
Among Republicans polled, 85% said Trump has done a lot to address concerns about his ability to serve as president.
By contrast, only 53% of Democrats say Biden is doing a better job of addressing those concerns than his rivals.
Still, 81% of debate viewers said the Biden-Trump showdown had no impact on who they would choose for president, while 14% said it had made them reconsider.
When it comes to specific issues, more than half (55%) said they think Trump would handle immigration better than Biden (27%).
The poll also showed Trump leading on the economy (56% to 31%) and foreign policy (47% to 35%).
But Biden was more trusted to handle issues such as abortion (42% to 34%) and protecting democracy (44% to 38%).
The CNN poll, which included only viewers who watched the live debate on Thursday, was conducted via text message among 565 registered voters.
They were recruited prior to the debate and selected through a survey of members of the SSRS Opinion Panel.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
