Voters in the nation's two largest battleground states, Pennsylvania and Florida, were turned off by President Donald Trump's conduct in the first general election debate, a new poll showed Saturday.
The New York Times/Siena College surveys showed Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead in both states. The survey was conducted before the announcement of Trump's COVID-19 infection.
Biden led by 7 percentage points 49%-42% among likely voters in Pennsylvania. He led by a similar margin 47%-42%, among likely voters in Florida.
Just 22% of likely voters across the two pivotal states said Trump won the debate Tuesday.
Voters disapproved of the president's conduct in the debate by a margin of 65%-25%, according to the survey. More than half of voters said they strongly disapproved of his conduct.
One-third of the president's supporters said they disapproved of his performance, including 11% who did so strongly. In addition, 8% of people who backed him in the survey said the debate made them less likely to support Trump's candidacy.
The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points in Florida, and 4.1 percentage points in Pennsylvania.
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