US Presidential Debate 2024: Viewers perceptions changed after debate | WION

starting this broadcast from us politics with just two months remaining for the US presidential elections the top two contenders Democratic nominee kamla Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump took part in their Maiden presidential debate on Tuesday night the debate hosted by ABC News covered exchanges on major issues such as abortion economy foreign policy and immigration to name a few in the opening minutes both Rivals sought to claim the mantle of changing the country which is something The Americans desire forth registered voters who watched the highly anticipated debate agreed that kamla Harris outperformed Donald Trump this according to a CNN poll of debate Watchers conducted by SSRS according to 63% of debate viewers Harris did a better job on stage in Philadelphia than 37% did while few changed their thoughts of trump overall those who watched the debate were also left with better impressions of Harris than they had before their assessments of each candidate's advantages on the issues persisted in mirroring the trends observed in National surveys with Trump Superior on the economy immigration and the role of commander-in Chief and Harris more credible in abortion and Democratic preservation on the issue of economy haris claimed that she had a plan to help people however she did not outline the details of the plan Trump accused Biden Harris administration of leading the country to the highest figures of inflation Trump said said that the people of our country are absolutely dying with what they have done they have destroyed the economy the they refering to Biden and Harris the most intense exchange was an abortion with Trump insisting that while having pushed for the end of the federal right to abortion he wanted individual states to make their own policy haris hit back saying Trump was telling a bunch of lies and called his policies insulting to the women of America at the conclusion of the night debate viewers perceptions of Harris were divided with 44% expressing a negative opinion of her and 45% a positive one an improvement from before the debate when 39% of the same voters said that they viewed her favorably meanwhile debate Spectators opinions of trump did not really change 39% of them thought well of him and 51% thought poorly of him which is about the same as his ratings among the same voters before he joined the stage after the debate the voters who watched the debate were were divided over which candidate had a better understanding of the problems faced by the people among which 44% supported Harris and 40% picked Trump this marks a shift in Harris's favor from before the debate when 43% were of the opinion that Trump had a better understanding of their problems as compared to 39% who said it was Harris but voters who tuned in gave Trump a 20 point advantage over Harris after the debate on handling the economy 55 to 35% a margin that's slightly wider than his pre-debate Edge Trump also received a 23 Point advantage over Harris on immigration and a six-point Edge on handling the role of commanderin-chief meanwhile Harris got a ninepoint advantage on protecting democracy and a 21o advantage on handling abortion with the debate playing a crucial role for voters in deciding their president 82% said that the debate did not affect their choice another 14% said that it made them reconsider their choice but did not change their mind a 4% said that debate changed their minds about whom to vote our correspondent Susan terani is joining us live from New York to get us some insights Susan you know before the debate we had spoken about how the country is already split into voters have made up their minds but this election is not like other elections and you have said it multiple times plus Philadelphia was definitely very different than Atlanta what are you picking on yeah that's a very valid point and you know not only is it very different but the climate that we're in right now is very extraordinary as well considering the fact that primary voters picked Joe Biden and now they have kamla Harris on the Democrat front and on the other hand you have someone like Donald Trump where the American people are familiar with his policies so that's very rare as well because he used to be president ultimately you know as you mentioned it's hard to imagine that the needle was really moved to either side among Democrats or Republicans but one thing is for sure KLA Harris came into this debate prepared she did her homework she prepared and it showed now whether or not it was scripted whether it seemed like it was rehearsed that's another subject but Donald Trump just seemed unprepared at least for this particular debate was it because he didn't prepare properly did he think that he's got it in the bag H so you know while people are used to seeing Trump the way he is a lot of Republicans are disappointed why he didn't take the opportunity uh to call out Harris on a lot of her policies and instead you know sort of veered off on other issues we'll see what the numbers say but as you mentioned you know um in about a few days time it's hard to imagine anyone has really going to remember what exactly happened at that debate but they will remember the performance from each candidate nonetheless if the battle of the debate Was Won we'll have to still see if the war of the election uh will also be won by the Democrats that's going to be very hard I mean there she needs to really get ahead of trump and polls notably in those swing States for it to really move the needle at this point so we'll see absolutely Susan and talking about that moving the needle that's something we were hearing even before the debate in fact when we were jogging with the numbers before the debate you and I we were seeing how about 28% of the American voters wanted to see kamla Harris because they thought that we don't know kamla Harris very well as much as they already do Donald Trump but do you think that came through throughout the debate no I I do not think voters still know who kamla Harris is or what she really stands for what they did see however is a candidate that's willing to learn is willing to go and do her homework and then come and try to present herself to the American public that that is what they saw now whether or not people are going to go to the polls merely because of that and vote for her is very unlikely But ultimately there is at least because the bar was set so low I mean before that it was Joe Biden who had a terrible debate with Trump but because the expectations were so low she exceeded those expectations not necessarily because she outlined her policy but because Donald Trump was just not his best he didn't perform as well as he should so she got the upper hand in this you know I mean we'll see on what merits voters will go to the polls for it's not going to be just for this debate but she did present herself in a good light all right Susan thank you so much for all those updates and insights good to speak speak to for all the latest news download the Von app And subscribe to our YouTube channel