The poll showed 47 percent of voters favoring Biden and 45 percent favoring Trump. Biden’s two-point lead is particularly notable seeing as Georgia hasn’t preferred a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992.
The poll—conducted by Channel 2 Action News and the political advertising and consulting firm Landmark Communications—surveyed 500 Georgians via mobile and landline phones. The poll’s margin of error is four percent, meaning that the two men could in fact be tied or Trump could even be ahead by a two-point margin.
The poll additionally asked Georgians to pick which candidate won the September 29 debate. Roughly 47 percent said Biden and 37 percent chose Trump.
While 82 percent of Black voters chose Biden and only 8 percent of picked Trump, Trump lead Biden among white voters. The poll found that 64 percent of white voters prefer Trump and only 29 percent prefer Biden.
Another national poll released Thursday from CNBC/Change Research found that only 2 percent of likely voters who watched the debate said that it changed who they intend to vote for. That poll had a 2 percent margin of error, so the debate may have influenced even fewer voters, or none at all.
Yet another CNBC/Change Research poll, released Thursday, showed 54 percent of likely voters choosing Biden and only 41 percent choosing Trump. The same poll showed that 53 percent of likely voters thought Biden won the debate, but only 29 percent felt Trump did.
According to the media research firm Nielsen, only 73 million people watched Biden and Trump’s first debate, nearly 11 million fewer than the 84 million viewers who tuned in to see Clinton’s first debate against Trump in 2016.
While it’s unclear what might’ve caused lower viewership for the 2020 debate, the event itself has been widely panned both nationally and internationally as a chaotic “shitshow.” During the debate Trump constantly interrupted Biden, compelling Biden to tell Trump to “shut up” and to call Trump a “clown,” a “racist” and “the worst president America has ever had.”
Following the debate, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that it would implement rule changes for the two remaining debates, including possibly muting candidate microphones or awarding additional time to any candidate whose response is interrupted.
The Washington Post wrote that Trump interrupted Biden 71 times during the 98-minute first debate while Biden interrupted 22 times. Trump and Biden’s second debate is scheduled for October 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida.
Newsweek contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
