Who Won? Polls Show Winner of US Presidential Debate Between Kamala Harris and Trump
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Who Won? Polls Show Winner of US Presidential Debate Between Kamala Harris and Trump

  • Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump participated in a presidential debate on September 10
  • A CNN poll of debate watchers found that 63% believed Harris outperformed Trump, while 37% thought Trump did better
  • Despite the debate, 82% of registered voters who watched said it didn't affect their choice for president

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States - On Tuesday, September 10, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump finally had the much-awaited debate ahead of the US 2024 presidential election.

The debate has sparked reactions in the United States and across the globe as many assessed the performance of the two presidential candidates.

Kamala Harris and Trump/US Presidential Election Debate
Former US President Trump and US VP Kamala Harris debate during the presidential election campaign at The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photo: Win McNamee
Source: Getty Images

Trump or Kamala Harris: Who won the debate?

A CNN poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS found that 63% of registered voters who watched the presidential debate believe VP Harris outperformed Trump, while 37% think Trump did better.

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Legit.ng gathers that prior to the debate, voters were evenly split on which candidate would perform more strongly, with 50% saying Harris would do so and 50% saying Trump would.

However, post-debate, 96% of Harris supporters said she did a better job, while 69% of Trump supporters credited him with a better performance.

US presidential debate: Harris gains

Voters who watched the debate left with improved views of Harris, with 45% viewing her favourably, up from 39% pre-debate. In contrast, views of Trump remained largely unchanged, with 39% rating him favourably and 51% unfavourably, according to the CNN poll.

US presidential debate: Issue-by-issue breakdown

Debate watchers trusted Trump more in terms of the US economy (55% to 35%), immigration (57% to 34%), and being commander in chief (46% to 40%).

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However, they trusted Harris more on abortion (55% to 34%) and protecting democracy (49% to 40%).

US debate to have little impact on voting decision

Despite the debate, 82% of registered voters who watched said it didn't affect their choice for president.

However, Trump supporters were more likely to say they were wavering after the debate (23% to 12%).

The CNN poll was conducted by text message with 605 registered US voters who said they watched the debate. The poll findings represent the views of debate watchers only, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.

Meanwhile, betting markets, as captured by Polymarket, indicate that Harris performed better than Trump.

Harris, Trump cross swords on China and economy in debate

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Harris and Trump clashed on China and economic issues during the debate, with the Democratic candidate saying he "sold us out" on China while the former president declared "they've destroyed the economy."

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"He ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military," said Harris in her first debate with Trump ahead of the November 5 election.
"(He) basically sold us out when a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century," she added.

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Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Nurudeen Lawal avatar

Nurudeen Lawal (Head of Politics and Current Affairs Desk) Nurudeen Lawal is an AFP-certified journalist with a wealth of experience spanning over 8 years. He received his B/Arts degree in Literature-in-English from OAU. Lawal is the Head of the Politics/CA Desk at Legit.ng, where he applies his expertise to provide incisive coverage of events. He was named the Political Desk Head of the Year (Nigeria Media Nite-Out Award 2023). He is also a certified fact-checker (Dubawa fellowship, 2020). Contact him at lawal.nurudeen@corp.legit.ng or +2347057737768.