Presidential candidate Joe Biden trounced President Trump to win the most recent and final presidential debate, according to several public opinion polls.
Most voters in the U.S. said Biden won the Oct. 22 debate because he interrupted less and would handle the coronavirus pandemic better, CNN and POLITICO polls show. But respondents to a poll from FiveThirtyEight said neither candidate gained much from the last debate of the election and voters haven’t changed their minds.
A plurality of people who watched the debate, 54%, said Biden won the debate, beating the 39% earned by his opponent, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll of 1,848 registered voters conducted on Oct. 23.
While only 1,163 of those who were polled actually watched the debate, overall favorability of both candidates increased and the percentage of people who found each candidate unfavorable decreased as well.
Despite the mutable nature of the most recent debate, respondents still said Trump interrupted more often than Biden, with 6-in-10 saying Trump interrupted more while 1-in-10 said Biden was the more interruptive candidate.
CNN reported 53% of voters who watched the debate said Biden emerged triumphant over Trump. Biden won most of the key policies poll takers were asked about, with 57% saying Biden would have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic better, while 41% said Trump did a better job than Biden would have done in theory.
Trump took a significant lead on economic issues with 56% of respondents to the CNN poll saying Trump would handle the the economy better compared to the 44% who said Biden would do better.
The CNN instant poll included 585 registered voters who watched the debate and were contacted by telephone.
While CNN’s poll showed respondents thought Biden won in nearly every category they were asked about, a poll conducted by FiveThirtyEight and Ipsos found the debate had almost no impact on voters’ likelihood to vote for either candidate.
Respondents voted each candidate had a 0.1 out of 10 increased likelihood of winning the election after the debate. The FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll consisted of 1,873 registered voters, 1,248 of which actually watched at least some of the debate