Joe Biden’s national lead over President Donald Trump nearly doubled after Tuesday’s presidential debate, with voters saying by a 2-to-1 margin that Biden has the better temperament to be president, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The poll was conducted in the two days after the unruly and insult-filled Sept. 29 debate, but before Trump tested positive for Covid-19 and was hospitalized Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The Democratic nominee is now ahead of Trump by 14 points among registered voters, 53 percent to 39 percent — up from his 8-point lead in the previous poll before the debate.
That 14-point advantage represents Biden’s largest lead in the NBC News/WSJ poll during the entirety of the 2020 presidential campaign; his previous high was 11 points in July.
Here are some contrarians who apparently think acting like a middle school bully is exactly what Americans want in a president:
Frank Luntz, pollster: “Biden should not have told Trump to shut up. Trump has rattled him, and it’s not a good look for Biden. #Debates2020”
Hugh Hewitt, MSNBC/NBC: “Winner: @realDonaldTrump on points. Loser: Chris Wallace. Winner: Judge Amy Comey Barret, who will be a justice. Loser: @JoeBiden for (1) having no response to “name one Joe.” (2) “Antifa isn’t a movement.” (3) The lockdown discussion. Voters don’t want a Biden lockdown.”
Bill O’Reilly: “Biden is coming across soft on crime. Every time Trump directs a question to him about what he would do—he dodges.”
Guy Benson, Fox News: “Biden pretending that the job losses are Trump’s fault, while also demanding more shutdowns & slower reopenings. Absurd.”
Ari Fleischer, Fox News: “Biden is too weak to take a stand on the filibuster or packing the court. He should take a stand.”
Steve Hilton, Fox News: “oh please. knock it off with the Scranton schtick @JoeBiden. you’re funded by Wall Street and your economic policies would hurt working Americans the most.”
Kimberley Strassel, The Wall Street Journal: “Why is Biden allowed to repeat that the facts about Hunter–as put out by a Senate Committee, with data from Treasury Department–are discredited? Every newspaper has noted the money Hunter took, from Ukraine to China. It’s all true; even Hunter admitted it.”
Ari Fleischer, Fox News: “I thought that the president had the best line of the night when he said ‘I’ve done more in 47 months than you’ve done in 47 years.’ That was a pretty good way to sum everything up. And I still think that Joe Biden is leaving himself very vulnerable because he just refuses to take a stand out of weakness, he acknowledges it! ‘I won’t give you an answer on court packing or the filibuster because I don’t want my answer to be the issue.’ What kind of leader or statesman answers a question like that?”
Andrew Sullivan: “Trump is dominating. That’s the brutal truth. It’s painful. So far.”
Tim Pool: “Even Biden laughs at Trump’s jokes This is hilarious Trump knows how to entertain and that wins people over Its sales They won’t remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel”Geraldo Rivera: “I thought that Joe wasn’t sharp, and the President I thought was so forceful at times that I thought he was gonna try and eat Joe Biden literally on the stage.”
Kimberley Strassel, The Wall Street Journal: “1) There are two ways to think of debates. a) Did you excite/enthuse base? On this, Trump wins. He was consistent, and made the points that he is running on in this election–law/order; economy; D corruption in terms of FBI investigation/Hunter; handling of virus. #Debates2020”
Bill O’Reilly: “Trump being very aggressive in contradicting what Biden says. First 7 minutes—Trump stronger.”
Dana Perino, Fox News: “President Trump was very good on some of the specifics, I would say especially law and order, judges, veterans, and military. And he could really parry with Joe Biden on something like the Green New Deal.”
Brit Hume, Fox News: “Trump came off as an enormously forceful personality, and if strength is what you’re looking for in a certain sense maybe people would judge him the winner.”
It appears they were wrong. People actually would prefer a an adult president who understands the meaning of discipline and decency. They love this dominating gorilla act but most people don’t. And, by the way, it turns out that touting policies and holding events that can kill your own voters isn’t really smart:
The biggest declines for Trump in the poll come from seniors (who are now backing Biden by a 62 percent-to-35 percent margin) and suburban women (58 percent to 33 percent).
And men 50 years and older moved from a 13-point advantage for Trump in the pre-debate NBC News/WSJ poll, to a 1-point advantage for Biden in this latest poll.
Also, he’s not getting much sympathy so far — for good reason:
An online ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday showed that 72 percent of Americans felt President Donald Trump did not take the risk of catching Covid-19 seriously enough or take the appropriate precautions for his own health.
That included 43 percent of Republicans and roughly 95 percent of Democrats.