Only a handful of voters say last week’s presidential debate made them reconsider their support for either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump, according to a new national poll.
Many political commentators and media analysts have said Harris has beaten Trump in the debate, which could be the first and only head-to-head match between the two before the November 5 election.
But a national poll from Monmouth University released Tuesday found that only 3% of debate viewers said the Philadelphia debate showdown caused them to reconsider who they would support for president.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump speak during the presidential debate, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Just over seven in 10 respondents said the Democratic and Republican presidential debates did not raise any doubts about the candidate they already support in the White House race. Eight percent of those surveyed said the debates raised some doubts but did not change their support. An additional 17 percent said they did not watch or listen to the debates at all.
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“How much this election has changed is measured in inches right now, not yards,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
“Essentially, 10,000 extra votes in key battleground states could decide the outcome. Polls can give you the broad contours of a race, but they can’t measure these subtle changes,” Murray stressed.


Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, Thursday, September 12, 2024, in Tucson, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
In social media posts and in a post-debate interview on Fox News Channel, Trump said he won the match against Harris.
“That was the best debate I’ve ever been to,” he wrote in a social media post.
In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” he claimed, “We had a great night. We won the debate.”
But Ms Harris, speaking at her first rally since last week’s debate, blasted Mr Trump’s performance as “the same old show, the same stale playbook we’ve heard for years… There was no plan for how to address the needs of the American people, because it was all about him, not about you.”
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A Monmouth University poll found that 49% of voters nationwide said they would definitely (39%) or probably (10%) vote for Harris. In a separate question, just over four in 10 said they would definitely (34%) or probably (10%) vote for Trump.
Nearly every national poll conducted after last week’s debate has shown Harris with a moderate digital advantage over Trump in the race to succeed President Biden.
But seven key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election remain within the margin of error.


Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Bojangles’ Coliseum, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Pointing to those surveyed who said they were very motivated to vote, Murray said, “Trump is currently doing well among voters who are more motivated to vote than the electorate as a whole, and this includes a significant number of voters who sat out the 2020 race. Four years ago, they may have been exhausted by the Trump administration and stayed home, but that feeling has faded and now they are resentful of the Biden administration.”
“To counter this, Democrats will likely try to galvanize voters who are already concerned about Trump but aren’t fully invested in the election,” he added.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted Sept. 11-15, questioning 803 likely voters nationwide. The overall survey has a sampling margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
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