Among those who watched last Tuesday’s debate in some form, 60% said that the debate was informative in helping understand the candidates positions on key issues. However, other data from Napolitan News Service Surveys shows the debate had little impact on the race.
Pre-and-post debate polling showed that there was virtually no change in perceptions of the candidates positions on fracking and immigration.
Vice President Harris received a slight bump following the debate as she rode a wave of positive media coverage. However, former President Trump received a slight bounce on the issues front. Prior to the debate, 46% of voters trusted Trump on their most important issue and the same number trusted Harris. Following the debate, 48% trusted Trump on the most important issue and 44% trusted Harris.
One reason for the limited impact is that only 1% of likely debate watchers were undecided or supporting another candidate. And, few debate watchers could understand how a reasonable person might support the opposing candidate.
These Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters were conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on September 11-12, 2024. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc.
