Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton leads GOP nominee Donald Trump in the latest Politico/Morning Consult poll, with both third-party candidates pulling single digit results.
The breakdown:
- Clinton: 41 percent;
- Trump: 38 percent;
- Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson: 8 percent;
- Green Party nominee Jill Stein: 4 percent.
Almost half of those polled say Clinton won Monday night's debate, including almost one-fifth of Republicans.
- Clinton won: 49 percent;
- Trump won: 26 percent
Moderator Lester Holt was viewed as unbiased, though some thought he favored Clinton.
- Favored Clinton: 27 percent;
- Favored Trump: 2 percent;
- Impartial: 42 percent.
Over 70 percent of likely voters watched the debate, with 55 percent reporting they watched all 90 minutes.
According to FiveThirtyEight, traditionally it's the challenging party's candidate that gains in the polls after the first debate, not the candidate from the party currently holding the White House.
"I look back as a former practitioner and say, 'Is there anything Donald Trump did to convince somebody who wasn't in his column to be for him?'" David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's former campaign manager, told The Washington Post.
"I have a hard time thinking there's many of those people. I don't think he lost anybody. But that's not his challenge now. He's got to add."
The Politico/Morning Consult poll was conducted on Sept. 26-27 with 1,253 likely voters, and a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.