President Joe Biden's debate performance on Thursday night was an absolute disaster, as he came off looking very much old and cognitively impaired as been apparent for some time now. Former and potentially future President Donald Trump, meanwhile, remained calm and collected for the most part and didn't even take the bait from Biden. Towards the end of the night, it was even Trump who urged "let's not act like children!" The president and his reelection campaign have continued to rant and rave about Trump while upping the gaslighting, but what do the polls think. about the performance?
On Friday morning, YouGov America released their poll findings of over 2,000 Americans and whether or not they watched Thursday night's debate. Sixty percent said they watched at "parts of it" (23 percent) or "all or most of it" (37 percent). They themselves witnessed firsthand, then, Biden's disastrous performance in real time. And boy, the results from there continue to be a disaster.
YouGov America also asked Americans who they thought the the Democratic Party should nominate, "if it wants to have the best chance of winning?" Just 30 percent said Joe Biden, while close to a majority, at 49 percent, said "someone else." Twenty-three percent were "not sure."
Barely a majority of Biden's fellow Democrats, at 53 percent, are sticking by him for that question, though 50 percent of Independents and 67 percent of Republicans say the Democrats should nominate "someone else."
Those aren't the only bad numbers for Biden, though. YouGov found that of over 3,000 Americans surveyed on Thursday night and Friday, a plurality believe Trump won the debate, with 43 percent saying so. Respondents were more likely to say they were "not sure" who won (35 percent), than they were to say that Biden won (23 percent).
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While 77 percent of Trump's fellow Republicans said he won the debate, Biden couldn't even get a majority of Democrats to say he won, as 47 percent of them said Biden won, while 37 percent were "not sure." Sixteen percent even said Trump won, though the question made clear to respondents they were being asked their thoughts "regardless of which candidate you prefer..."
A plurality of Independents, at 47 percent, said they were "not sure" who won, though they were much more likely to say Trump did than Biden, 40-13 percent.
Trump also leads Biden in who respondents believe is "most fit to be president for the next four years," with 44 percent saying Trump is, while only 35 percent say Biden is.
More Republicans say Trump is fit than Democrats say Biden is, with those numbers at 86 and 74 percent respectively.
Regardless of which candidate you prefer, who do you think is most fit to be president for the next four years?
— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) June 28, 2024
Trump: 44%
Biden: 35%
86% of Republicans say Trump
74% of Democrats say Biden
—Poll of 3,115 U.S. adults June 27-28, starting just after debatehttps://t.co/lol6UhFOxr pic.twitter.com/Eb0Y9PyHkY
A previous poll from YouGov America showed that before the debate, Trump enjoyed a small edge in who Americans believed would win the debate, 38-33 percent.
Independents also favored Trump with their expectations, 33-23 percent, though Independents ended up favoring Trump's performance by a much larger margin.
Poll just before the debate:
— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) June 28, 2024
• 38% of Americans expected Trump to win
• 33% expected Biden
• Independents: Trump, by 33% to 23%
Poll just after:
• 43% said Trump won
• 22% said Biden did
• Independents: Trump, by 40% to 13%https://t.co/ebkrhgYrVnhttps://t.co/cPCUJK9Zx3 pic.twitter.com/PsP5fPayTh
Both Trump and Biden are for now only their party's presumptive nominees. If Biden were to be dumped as the nominee before the August convention, or even removed as president, that could very well leave us with Vice President Kamala Harris, who had a terrible response of her own to the debate. Americans don't have much confidence in Harris either, though.
A poll from The Economist/YouGov America was released on Wednesday before the debate and found that just 39 percent believe she "is qualified to be vice president," while only 33 percent say she "is qualified to be president." Those numbers are slightly better among voters, but still not great, with 44 percent saying she's qualified to be vice president, and 37 percent saying so is to be president.
Do Americans think Kamala Harris is qualified to be vice president? How about president?
— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) June 28, 2024
👉 39% say Harris is qualified to be vice president
👉 33% say Harris is qualified to be president https://t.co/NQWwypKGKT pic.twitter.com/w0h7VUgWUX
That poll from The Economist/YouGov America also found that Trump enjoyed an edge of 42-34 percent when it comes to who voters expected to do better or win, and an edge of 40-30 percent with overall respondents.
As Matt covered early on Friday, the CNN snap poll put out after the network hosted the debate found that 67 percent of debate watchers believed Trump won the debate, while just 33 percent believed Biden did.
CNN noted on Thursday night that this stands in strong contrast to that first debate of 2020 between Trump and Biden, taking place much later in the election cycle, where 60 percent believed Biden won that debate, while 28 percent said Trump did.
CNN breaks down the post-debate polling
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 28, 2024
This is a total disaster for Biden
Who won?
Trump 67%
Biden 33%
Only 14% of viewers said they had "a lot" of confidence that Biden could lead the country, whereas 36% said the same for Trump. 57% said they had no confidence in Biden pic.twitter.com/wd3u58N7Tl
