NY Times: Undecided Voters Aren't Sure Who Won the Debate

The Bee:

This is just one poll, and, as I'm always told, polls are made for strippers.

Actually it's not even a poll -- it's just five reporters asking random undecided voters what they thought.

But if undecided voters really did think that Trump's bad, low-prep debate performance was good enough for a draw, I will certainly take that with a big smile.

Pundits Said Harris Won the Debate. Undecided Voters Weren't So Sure. Voters said the vice president talked about a sweeping vision to fix the country's most stubborn problems. But they wanted the fine print.

The reporters interviewed voters in five states and asked them whether the debate changed their views on the presidential race.

For weeks, undecided voters have been asking for more substance.

So it was perhaps no accident that Vice President Kamala Harris's first words during the presidential debate on Tuesday were, "I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan."

Some Americans might need more convincing.

Bob and Sharon Reed, both 77-year-old retired teachers who live on a farm in central Pennsylvania, had high hopes for the debate between Ms. Harris and former President Donald Trump. They thought that they would come away with a candidate to support in November.

But, Ms. Reed said, "It was all disappointing."

The couple ended the night wondering how the costly programs each candidate supported -- Mr. Trump's tariffs and Ms. Harris's aid to young families and small businesses -- would help a couple like them, living on a fixed income that has not kept pace with inflation. They said they didn't hear detailed answers on immigration or foreign policy, either.

...

[N]ot all voters, especially those undecided few who could sway the election, were effusive about the vice president's performance.

In interviews, these undecided voters acknowledged that Ms. Harris seemed more presidential than Mr. Trump. And they said she laid out a sweeping vision to fix some of the country's most stubborn problems.

But they also said she did not seem much different from Mr. Biden, and they wanted change.

And most of all, what they wanted to hear -- and didn't -- was the fine print.

Voters said they were glad she has a tax and economic plan. But they want to know how it will become law when Washington is so polarized. They know she wants to give assistance to first-time home buyers, but doubted that it was realistic.

"She tried a couple times to say, 'I want to do this and I want to do that,' and that's nice promises," Ms. Reed said. "I hope she can get them through Congress."

This is helpful: Almost all voters already know Trump, including all of his weaknesses, so Trump showing his weaknesses last night isn't any kind of Late Breaking News to them.

...

A vast majority -- 90 percent -- of likely voters nationwide said they pretty much know all they need to about him, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released this week before the debate.

And the debate seemed to contain few surprises for them.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:10 PM

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