PRESIDENT Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden faced off on Thursday night, October 22 for their final debate before the November 3 election. The 90-minute debate was moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker and took place at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Viewers who tuned into the final debate were pleasantly surprised to actually have the opportunity to hear and listen to each candidate applying for the job to be our president, compared to the chaotic and contentious first debate where viewers ended up more confused, misinformed, angry and desperate than before.
It was still filled with tension and back and forth fact-checking of each other’s assertions and their chance to convince the American people with their vision, policies and plans why they should be elected president. But, we were at least able to digest their messages and process them to make better-informed decisions come Election Day.
WHO WON? Let me share with you different polls conducted immediately after Thursday night’s debate.
Newsweek collated three snap polls following scientific polling protocols:
FOX News Polls reported that Trump won, 74% picking the president over Biden’s 24%.
Trump’s fans would also be happy to know that their vigilance and efforts paid off. “The president fared better in online polls, which experts have noted are far less reliable because they allow the supporters of a candidate to recruit like-minded others to participate and skew the results, while sometimes also allowing a single person to vote more than once,” Newsweek reported.
More snap polls report from Newsweek:
A CNN/SSRS poll conducted among 585 registered voters who watched the debate found 53% believed Biden won, compared to 39% for Trump. Favorability ratings for both candidates were statistically unchanged before and after the debate. The poll has a 5.7% margin of error.
Early results of a poll from progressive pollster Data for Progress found that 52% of respondents believed Biden won, compared to 41% for Trump. Another 7% were undecided. The exact methodology of the poll was unclear, although it was not an open online poll and full results are expected to be released Friday.
The CNN polling also asked viewers more questions about their impressions about the candidates’ performance after watching the debate.
Viewers once again said that Biden’s criticisms of Trump were largely fair (73% said they were fair, 26% unfair), and they split over whether Trump’s attacks on Biden were fair (50% said yes, 49% no).
That’s a more positive outcome for Trump. In a CNN Instant Poll after the first presidential debate, just 28% said they thought the President had won the debate, and 67% called his criticism of Biden unfair.
When asked who between the candidates answered the moderator’s question more directly, people said Biden was far more apt to be seen as directly answering the moderator’s questions (62% said he did, 31% said Trump).
All told, though, the debate did not do much to move impressions of either candidate. Favorable views of Biden before the debate stood at 55%, and they held steady at 56% in post-debate interviews. Likewise, Trump’s numbers held steady, with 42% saying they had a favorable view of the President in interviews conducted before Thursday’s debate and 41% saying the same afterward.
More debate watchers, though, said Trump’s performance raised concerns about how he would handle the presidency (55%) than did Biden’s (41%).
Issues that matter
The final debate did not move the needle that much when asked about the economy.
According to CNN’s survey, “debate watchers preferred Trump over Biden on the economy (56% say they think Trump would better handle it vs. 44% who say Biden would).
The polls reveal that the viewers asked were divided about evenly between the two on foreign policy (50% prefer Biden, 48% Trump).
Biden held a wide edge as more trusted to handle the coronavirus (57% Biden to 41% Trump), climate change (67% Biden to 29% Trump) and racial inequality in the U.S. (62% Biden to 35% Trump).
Biden was also largely seen as offering a better plan for solving the country’s problems (54% Biden to 42% Trump), and voters split over who seemed to be the stronger leader (49% each).
Political party affiliation
How did viewers vote based on political affiliation? As expected, Republicans and Democrats voted according to their party’s nominee for president. However, Independents also largely felt Biden won (55% Biden to 36% Trump), as did moderates (56% Biden to 37% Trump)
How did gender, age, education factor in?
Women were more likely than men to say that Biden did a better job in the debate. Some 60% of women said Biden won, 35% Trump.
Among men, 47% said Biden won, 44% chose Trump. and White voters with college degrees (64% Biden to 29% Trump).
Among those 65 and older — a group backing Biden in greater numbers than they did Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to most polls — the verdict was a split decision, with 46% saying Biden won, 43% Trump and 10% saying they both did equally well.
Younger voters broadly saw Biden as the winner, 66%, to 27% for Trump among those under age 45.
Recent national polls also show Biden leading Trump by an average of 9.8 points, according to FiveThirtyEight.
As viewers and voters, what did you learn from the debate? How did it affect your voting decision?
Heading to the polls, let me leave you with quotations from both candidates, their closing statements during the final debate:
Donald Trump: “I will tell you, go back. Before the plague came in, just before, I was getting calls from people that were not normally people that would call me. They wanted to get together. We had the best Black unemployment numbers in the history of our country. Hispanic, women, Asian, people with diplomas, with no diplomas, MIT graduates; number one in the class, everybody had the best numbers. And you know what? The other side wanted to get together. They wanted to unify.
“Success is going to bring us together. We are on the road to success. But I’m cutting taxes, and he wants to raise everybody’s taxes and he wants to put new regulations on everything. He will kill it. If he gets in, you will have a Depression, the likes of which you’ve never seen. Your 401(k)s will go to hell, and it’ll be a very, very sad day for this country.”
Joe Biden: “I will say, I’m an American President. I represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me, and I’m going to make sure that you’re represented. I’m going to give you hope. We’re going to move; we’re going to choose science over fiction. We’re going to choose hope over fear. We’re going to choose to move forward because we have enormous opportunities, enormous opportunities to make things better.
“We can grow this economy, we can deal with the systemic racism. At the same time, we can make sure that our economy is being run and moved and motivated by clean energy, creating millions of new jobs. That’s the fact, that’s what we’re going to do. And I’m going to say, as I said at the beginning, what is on the ballot here is the character of this country. Decency, honor, respect. Treating people with dignity, making sure that everyone has an even chance. And I’m going to make sure you get that. You haven’t been getting it the last four years.”
Discern the characters of these two men applying for the job of president. Remember, we, the people, are the bosses. We are electing a leader who will serve us and our nation and not be served or saved by his position and power. We are electing a leader who should bring out the best in us, and not the worst.
We need somebody who will measure up to the dignity of the Office of the President of the United States, somebody who has the heart, the soul, and will to fulfill the oath he will take to protect and defend the Constitution and all the American people above anything.
Remember, we get the government that we deserve. Vote early, vote wisely, vote conscientiously.
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(The views expressed by our Op-Ed contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the predilection of the editorial board and staff of Asian Journal.)
Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at [email protected], or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
