Former President Trump edged out President Biden in Thursday's presidential debate, according to new polling data.
A survey of 500 registered voters by Sean Cooperman Research found that 51% of voters who watched or were aware of the debate believe Trump won, while just 23% said Biden won.
An additional 14% said they thought it was a draw, and 12% said they didn't know who won.
Slightly more than half of voters said Biden's surprising performance was worse than expected, while 17% thought Trump's performance fell short of expectations.
More voters said Trump's performance was more “presidential” than Biden's.
Polls have shown that while Trump has made great strides in easing voters' concerns about his fitness to be president, Biden has made them worse.
Nearly three-quarters of voters said they were “more concerned” about “Biden's age and fitness to be president” after the debate.
Regarding Trump, 39% of voters were concerned that he was “disorganized, out of control and unfit to be president,” but after the debate, 30% said they were less concerned about this issue than before.
Despite Trump's landslide victory on the stage, the basic makeup of the race appears to have changed little: 47% of those surveyed said they would support Trump, while 43% said they would vote for Biden.
A significant 10% of voters said they were unsure or did not plan to vote.
The numbers reflect a slight lead Trump had in polls before the debate.
Sean Cooperman's poll contained more bad news for Biden.
Fifty percent of voters said the debate made them “significantly more likely to vote.” Many voters rate both candidates unfavorably, with Biden receiving a more negative rating than Trump, with 53% holding an “unfavorable” opinion of Biden and just 50% of Trump.
“Trump is the clear winner of the debate because he was able to improve perceptions of himself and exceed expectations for his performance. Importantly, Trump was much better able to neutralize his greatest weakness — appearing chaotic and out of control — while Biden's performance exacerbated concerns about his age and fitness to be president,” pollster Carly Cooperman told The Washington Post.
The poll found that respondents were split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, with 36% each identifying as Democrats and Republicans. Another quarter said they were “independents.”
The poll follows a similar one conducted by CNN after the debate, which showed Trump dominating his rivals on the network.
There are growing calls for Biden to drop out of the race, but he has vowed not to. In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump, never one to be shy about self-praise, called his performance “the greatest debate performance in the long and storied history of presidential debates.”
