CNN Flash Poll: Debate Watchers Overwhelmingly Award Trump Victory

Viewers of Thursday night’s presidential debate on CNN hammered President Joe Biden’s historically poor performance.

A CNN flash poll on the debate conducted by SSRS found a whopping 67 percent of those polled believed former President Donald Trump won the debate while only 33 percent believed Biden won.

Significantly, prior to the debate, the same voters said 55 percent to 45 percent that they expected Trump to perform better.

Even with a margin of error of +/-5 percent, the results show an astounding debate night victory for Trump, who has consistently led Biden in polling for months, particularly in critical swing states.

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— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) June 28, 2024

Those polled — voters who watched the debate — are not necessarily reflective of the full voting public. Yet “the results are a shift from 2020, when Biden was seen by debate watchers as outperforming Trump in their presidential debates,” according to CNN’s analysis.

CNN also reported:

A 57% majority of debate-watchers Thursday night say they have no real confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country, and 44% that they have no real confidence in Trump’s ability to do so. Those numbers are effectively unchanged from the poll taken prior to the debate, in which 55% of those voters said they had no confidence in Biden, and 47% that they lacked confidence in Trump.

Neither candidate scores highly on this metric, but while just 36% of debate watchers now say they have a lot of confidence in Trump’s ability to lead the country, only 14% say the same of Biden.

Everyday voters were not alone in criticizing Biden’s debate performance. Establishment media talking heads flocked to television cameras and social media expressing emotions from disappointment to bewilderment over Biden’s shockingly poor showing, with many calling for him to be replaced on the ticket.