The post-debate polls are coming in, and while Donald Trump fared slightly better than his miserable first debate performance, debate watchers proclaimed Hillary Clinton the winner of the second presidential debate.
The CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers gave Clinton another strong victory.
CNN reported, “Donald Trump exceeded expectations, but Hillary Clinton won the second presidential debate, according to a CNN / ORC poll of debate watchers. The results showed a clear victory for Clinton, with 57% saying Clinton won, as opposed to 34% for Trump.”
The YouGov poll, which gave Clinton a much smaller victory in the first debate, showed Clinton registering a bigger victory in the second debate, “According to YouGov’s post-debate poll, which interviewed 812 registered voters who watched the debate, Hillary Clinton won the debate against Donald Trump by 47% to 42%. Clinton narrowly won undecideds 44% to 41%. She was also considered “more Presidential” by a 57% to 31% margin. There was a gender gap, however: women though Clinton won by 50-38%, while men thought Trump won by 46-43%.”
What should trouble Republicans is that the number of people who thought Trump won the debate is right in line with his core level of support. Trump’s baseline of support is between 34% and 38%. By this metric, he scored at the low end of his baseline.
The YouGov poll is bad news for Trump because it showed Clinton beating him with undecided voters, and absolutely crushing him on looking more presidential.
It speaks volumes about how out of touch Trump and his supporters are with the US electorate that they were ecstatic about his debate performance, but he still lost.
The post-debate polls are more evidence that lines of support in the presidential election have crystallized. Hillary Clinton continues to lead. Trump did everything that his supporters wanted in the debate, and he still lost.
Donald Trump’s debate played well with his small base of support but did nothing to change the direction of the election.
Even when Trump thinks he wins, he loses.