Post-Debate, Harris Leads by 4 as Voters See Her as More Honest, Composed, and Intelligent Than Trump
On Tuesday, September 10, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in a presidential debate, hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The debate was the first since Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket following Biden’s poor debate performance in June.
A new Data for Progress survey, fielded in the days following the high-stakes debate, finds Harris up 4 points over Trump in a head-to-head race — with voters seeing her as being more of the “candidate of the future” and more honest, intelligent, and composed than Trump. Furthermore, the survey examines voters’ reactions to the debate, including how an overwhelming majority find Trump’s statement regarding immigrants eating pets to be weird.
Reactions to the Debate
Fifty percent of voters report that they watched the debate, while 29% watched clips, 8% read about it, and 13% didn’t watch or read about it at all. This represents a slight increase in the percentage of respondents who watched or read about the debate compared to our June 28 survey after the Biden-Trump debate.
Among likely voters, 56% think Harris won the debate, compared with 37% who think Trump won.
Voters who watched or read about the debate heard Harris talk most about protecting abortion rights (66% saying they heard “a lot”), followed by building up the middle class (51%), defending democracy (47%), cutting taxes for middle-class families (45%), growing small businesses (43%), and increasing taxes on billionaires (41%).
Additionally, voters were shown a list of notable quotes from the debate and asked how much they have heard about each one. Voters have heard the most about Trump saying that immigrants are eating people’s pets, with 52% saying they’ve heard “a lot” about this statement.
When asked whether Trump’s statement about immigrants eating pets is weird or normal, voters overwhelmingly believe it is a weird thing to say, including 91% of Democrats, 77% of Independents, and 69% of Republicans.
The validity of the 2020 presidential election was questioned by Trump at the debate. A majority of voters (57%) think the 2020 presidential election was fairly won by Biden, while 35% think it was stolen from Trump.
During the debate, Harris stated that Trump “wants to be a dictator on day one.” Fifty-one percent of voters agree with the statement that Trump wants to be a dictator, including 50% of Independents.
The State of the Race, Post-Debate
In the wake of the Harris-Trump debate, likely voters report a -8-point net favorability of Trump and -6-point net favorability of his vice presidential nominee JD Vance, but +4-point net favorability of Harris and +5-point net favorability of her vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. This does not represent a significant change in favorability for any of the candidates since our pre-debate survey.
In a head-to-head race, Harris has the support of 50% of voters, while 46% choose Trump and 4% remain unsure. In our last head-to-head release, prior to the debate, Harris led Trump by 3 points (49% to 46%).
Voters are split on which candidate is seen as more “strong,” with a +1-point Harris advantage. However, voters clearly believe that Trump holds larger rallies than Harris.
Overall, these findings indicate positive signs for Harris heading into the last 50 days of the election. By a +19-point margin, voters believe she won the first debate, and she has significant advantages over Trump on characteristics like intelligence and fighting for the working class. However, the race remains close, and Harris still faces the challenge of defining her policy agenda to voters — an agenda that previous Data for Progress polling has found to be popular.