Viewers say Joe Biden won the final presidential debate

Hoang NguyenData Journalist
Graeme BruceBusiness Data Journalist
Linley SandersData Journalist
Jamie BallardData Journalist
October 23, 2020, 4:20 AM GMT+0

With the election less than two weeks away, President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participated in their final presidential debate tonight.

A snap poll of 491 registered voters who watched tonight’s debate finds that 54% believe that Biden won tonight’s debate, while 35% believe that Trump won. Another 9% believe it was a tie between the two.

Viewers were split on the tone of tonight’s debate. Nearly half (46%) saw tonight’s debate as positive, while 43% saw it as negative – which is still a marked difference from the first debate, which 83% of viewers considered negative, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll.

Three-quarters (75%) viewers believe that the moderator, NBC News journalist Kristen Welker, treated the candidates fairly, though 17% believe she favored Biden and one in 20 (5%) believe she favored Trump.

Nearly four in 10 (37%) say this debate made them feel optimistic, while 33% say it made them feel annoyed and 23% say it made them feel entertained.

Contact uspress@yougov.com for more about this YouGov Snap Poll

Methodology: YouGov polled 491 registered voters who watched the presidential debate. The survey was conducted on October 22 between 10:40 p.m. and 11:36 p.m. Eastern time. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted on age, gender, education level, political affiliation and ethnicity to be nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is approximately 5.2% for the overall sample.

Image: Getty