Hillary Clinton is heavily favored to have won the first debate, one that has cost Republican nominee Donald Trump ground in his unfavorability rating, which was at its low before the debate, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post post-debate poll.
Only one debate performance since 1976 was more lopsided, per ABC, as 53 percent say Democratic nominee Clinton won the debate compared to just 18 percent siding with Trump. Mitt Romney bested President Barack Obama 69-18 in this first debate poll in 2012, a silver-lining Trump’s campaign might cling to for a comeback.
Trump, though, lost five points on favorability, as 64 percent of respondents have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican. Both candidates retain a majority unfavorable rating, but Clinton’s unfavorability of 53 percent has not significantly changed from pre-debate polling, according to ABC.
Clinton’s debate acumen was also rated more truthful in the poll, as 54 percent believe Clinton mostly got her facts right, while just 29 percent believe Trump did. In terms of having lied, nearly one-third believe Trump did, while 21 percent believed the same for Clinton.
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cell phone from Sept. 28-30, 2016, among a random national sample of 630 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 5 points.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.