Transcending pugilistic attack and rebuttal style points ultimately awarded by various media pundits, the only takeaway from last night’s presidential debate that really matters is how many voters’ minds have likely been changed regarding who they trust to protect and advance interests they care most about.
According to a June 20-25 Times/Siena College pre-debate poll of 1,226 registered voters released yesterday, few who wondered if Joe Biden could make it through a 90-minute stand-up slug-fest exchange without pre-scripted notes or tele-prompted messaging would be any more likely to have confidence in him to represent their priorities.
Overall, the survey showed Trump with his largest-ever overall lead over Biden (48% to 44%), and an even larger 51% to 37% Trump approval on top priority issues.
Of those issues, when asked to pick the most import one: 22% listed the economy with 6% inflation and the cost of living; 16% immigration; 8% abortion; 6% general foreign policy; 6% candidate character/competence; 5% democracy/corruption; 4% candidate dislike; 2% Mideast/Israel/Palestine; and 1% climate change.
Asked which candidate will do a better job in handling the issue they regard to be most important, 51% said Trump, 37% said Biden, and 8% said neither.
Strongly favoring Trump, immigration was cited as a matter of increasing importance to voters of both parties, even topping the economy with Hispanic voters.
Abortion ranked as the most important issue favoring Biden
In response to whether the U.S. is presently "on the right track," 67% said no, while 22% approved . . . down from 35% approval/56% disapproval in September 2020.
Regarding Joe Biden’s overall presidential performance, 46% strongly disapproved and 15% somewhat disapproved, while 14% strongly approved and 21% somewhat approved.
Comparing general opinions of the two candidates, Trump was regarded 39% very unfavorable and 13% somewhat unfavorable, 23% favorable and 23% very favorable; Biden scored 41% very unfavorable, 18% somewhat unfavorable, 24% somewhat favorable, and 14% very favorable.
With the survey group split 29% Republican, 28% Democrat and 34% Independent, 44% of those who voted in 2020 had picked Trump, with 49% going for Biden.
When asked if their respective parties should select different presidential candidates, 64% vs. 29% now wanted Biden replaced; and 55% vs. 39% favored replacing Trump.
On age fitness, 48% strongly agreed and 22% somewhat agreed that Biden is too old to be an effective president, compared with 33% who disagree and 25% somewhat disagreeing that Trump is too old.
Regarding personality and temperament for essential leadership, 51% responded negatively vs. 47% positively for Biden; 53% negative vs. 45% positive for Trump.
In response to a question of whether respondents agreed that Trump had committed serious federal crimes regarding a guilty verdict in a May New York "hush money" trial, 55% approved while 36% disapproved.
Asked if that felony case was mostly politically motivated, 49% believed yes, 10% said the conviction would make them more likely to support him, 19% less likely, and 68% reported it made no difference at all.
Significantly, no questions were levied whether charges of Biden family foreign influence peddling along with clear evidence that Joe was entirely aware of son Hunter’s murky business deals under current investigation by multiple House Committees will influence their support.
Nevertheless, asked who they would vote for between the two candidates if elections were held today, 48% still favored Trump and 42% Biden, with 10% undecided.
Adding Robert Kennedy Jr. as a third-party candidate at 9%, Trump would lead Biden 39% to 32%.
Putting personal candidate preferences aside, 48% predicted that Trump would win the 2024 election, and 38% bet on Biden.
Interest in the election among those polled was high, with 48% stating they were paying close attention, 32% indicating some, and 19% only some to none.
Fifty-six percent said they will almost certainly vote, 24% very likely, 8% somewhat likely, and 9% not very or at all likely.
Yesterday’s debate garnered much attention as well, with 74% of those surveyed intending to watch. Of all polled, 11% expected Biden to do very well, 35% somewhat well, 24% somewhat well, and 25% not well at all.
Trump was projected to perform very well or somewhat well by 66%, and either not too well or not well at all by 34%.
So, who was right?
Each of us must decide, along with how much it truly matters in changing whom we trust most to lead our nation and future.
However, having just watched that sad spectacle, we can safely bet that the debate results will pose a disastrous dilemma for frantic Democrats who must now try to figure out how to drop Joe as their November nominee without replacing him with Kamala who widely polls even worse.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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