The dust is still settling after a chaotic debate that news outlets are describing as "bitter", "absolutely awful" and even "a national humiliation". CNN's Jake Tapper described the event as "a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck" and NBC's "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd labeled it "a train wreck of the making of one person". Moderator Chris Wallace struggled to take control of a debate plagued by interruptions and insults as both men attempted to get points across about the pandemic, white supremacists and the economy in a turbulent 90 minutes. As initial polls look into who won the debate, the general consensus among many commentators is that the American people lost. A CBS News survey published immediately after the debate recorded immense frustration among viewers along with feelings about who won the messy contest.
The survey involved 1,039 likely voters who reported watching the debate in and it found that 83% of them described its tone as negative. Furthermore, 69% of those polled felt annoyed, 31% felt entertained, 19% felt pessimistic and poignantly, a mere 17% felt informed. So who do people think came out on top? 48% of those polled in the Battleground Tracker say Joe Biden won last night's debate while 41% say the president was the winner. 10% think the contest was a tie. CBS elections and survey director Anthony Salvanto said on air that those results are pretty close to the support for both candidates going into the debate. It remains unclear whether the debate will have an impact on the presidential election but the preliminary results of the polling certainly look better for Joe Biden.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
Share of debate watchers who
