Suffolk Poll: One-Third More Likely to Vote Trump After Debate

A Suffolk University/USA Today survey released Monday showed that nearly one-third of voters are more inclined to support former President Donald Trump following the first presidential debate, while most respondents believe Democrats should consider replacing President Joe Biden as their nominee.

The poll among 1,000 registered voters nationwide reflects widespread discontent with the current major party nominees.

While 51% of voters think Trump should be replaced as the Republican nominee, the dissatisfaction with Biden is more pronounced, particularly among Democrats; more than 40% of Democrats believe Biden should be replaced following his debate performance.

Trump's support base is more solid in comparison, with only 14% of Republicans and 12% of Trump supporters suggesting that the GOP should consider a different candidate. Additionally, the debate seemed to strengthen Trump's position, with 31% of respondents stating that his performance made them more likely to support him.

In contrast, only 10% of all voters said Biden's debate performance increased their likelihood of voting for him, and 9% said the debate made them more inclined to back a third-party candidate. Biden's critics focused on concerns about his mental sharpness, with detractors using terms like "confused" and "incoherent" to describe his performance.

On the other hand, Trump's supporters used descriptors such as "coherent" and "articulate" to praise their candidate.

"The findings, taken in the three days after the [June 27] debate, underscore the significant challenge for the Biden campaign as it tries to recover and put this debate behind them amid calls for the president to withdraw," said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.

The survey highlighted a significant perception gap in the debate's outcome.

Voters from both parties agreed by a margin of nearly 5 to 1 (50% to 11%) that Trump was the debate winner. However, only 28% of Biden supporters believed their candidate won.

The nationwide survey was conducted from June 28-30 with registered voters across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.