Trump crushed Biden in debate, new poll reveals: ‘More presidential’
Former President Trump crushed President Biden during their presidential debate on Thursday, according to new polling data.
A survey of 500 registered voters by Schoen Cooperman Research found 51% of voters who watched or were familiar with the debate believed Trump won, compared to just 23% who said Biden triumphed.
An additional 14% said they believed the contest was a draw, while 12% said they weren’t sure who won.
Slightly more than half of voters said Biden’s alarming performance was worse than they expected, while 17% thought Trump underperformed.
More voters than not said Trump’s performance was “more presidential” than Biden’s.
The poll found Trump made strides in allaying voter fears about his fitness for office — while Biden exacerbated them.
Nearly three-quarters of voters said they left the debate “more concerned” about Biden’s “age and fitness to be president.”
On Trump, 39% of voters were more concerned about his being “chaotic, out of control, and not having the right character to be president” — while 30% said they were now less concerned about this issue following the debate.
Despite Trump’s overwhelming victory at the podium, the fundamental contours of the race appeared to be mostly unchanged.
Among those polled, 47% said they plan to support Trump, while 43% would vote for Biden.
A critical 10% of voters said they either weren’t sure or didn’t plan to vote.
The numbers mirror the narrow leads Trump had opened in polling before the debates.
The Shoen-Cooperman survey contained more bad news for Biden.
A full 50% of voters said they were “much more likely to vote” as a result of the debate.
And while more voters than not viewed both candidates poorly, Biden’s negatives were higher than Trump’s, with 53% of voters saying they had an “unfavorable” opinion of Biden to just 50% for Trump.
“Trump is the clear winner of the debate as he was able to both improve perceptions of him and exceed expectations of how he would perform. Critically, he did much better at neutralizing his biggest weakness — appearing chaotic and out of control — while Biden’s performance exacerbated concerns about his age and fitness to serve as President,” pollster Carly Cooperman told The Post.
The poll was split evenly with 36% of respondents each identifying as either Democrat or Republican. Another quarter said they were “independent.”
The survey followed a similar study taken after the debate by CNN which showed Trump dominating his rival on the network.
President Biden has faced growing calls to drop out of the race, something he has vowed not to do. In a post on Truth Social Saturday, Trump — never bashful about self-praise — called his own performance “the greatest debate performance in the long and storied history of Presidential Debates.”
