… We love the illusion that the skills on display in debates somehow map onto the requirements of the presidency; and that we render political verdicts based on what appears to be intellectual trial by combat. Don’t bet on it. In reality, debates have probably never decided a presidential election. […] Read more »

On Tuesday, President Trump and Joe Biden faced off for the first time, in a rocky and, at times, tumultuous debate. We once again partnered with Ipsos to track how the debate affected Americans’ views of the election, using Ipsos’s KnowledgePanel to interview the same group of people both before […] Read more »

It doesn’t take a savvy political analyst to conclude that Tuesday night’s debate was a disaster for President Trump. Trailing badly in the national polls and a critical mass of battlegrounds, his only goal should have been to convince the small number of undecided voters that they should reelect him—despite […] Read more »

The first presidential debate between Joseph R. Biden Jr. and President Trump has concluded in Cleveland. It was moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News. New York Times Read more »

In the first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, voters who watched Tuesday night say Biden won the debate, but those who watched the heated exchanges overwhelmingly called the debate’s tone negative, and most said they felt annoyed watching it. Forty-eight percent say Biden won, while […] Read more »

Six in 10 debate watchers said former Vice President Joe Biden did the best job in Tuesday’s debate, and just 28% say President Donald Trump did, according a CNN Poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS. In interviews with the same voters conducted before the debate, 56% said they expected […] Read more »