Biden will win – policy, rather than debate performance, is still important to undecided voters and is Biden’s strength

still has a shot of winning the as though voters agreed the debate was a disaster, very few in the poll said it would change their vote. They broadly agreed President Biden, 81, performed badly and 60 per cent said his opponent did better in Atlanta on Thursday. Only 21 per cent said Biden did the better of the two bitter rivals and 19 per cent said they didn't know who came out on top. About 73 per cent of debate watchers said Biden's performance was poor or terrible and just eight per cent said it was excellent or good. Trump didn't exactly win the debate, however, as only 40 per cent rated him good or excellent, 25 per cent mixed, and 33 per cent was poor or terrible. Biden took a moderate hit in how many voters were concerned about his age, but it was already so low it couldn't get much worse. 'Before the debate, 27 per cent of likely voters rated Biden as good or excellent when it came to his mental fitness to be president,' Ipsos said. 'Following the debate, that level declined to 20 per cent. The decline was steepest among Democratic respondents, going from 56 per cent before the debate to 42 per cent after the debate.' One worrying sign for the president was that black voters, a group Biden needs to win as they overwhelmingly supported him in 2020, dropped 15 per cent in their confidence of his mental fitness. Voters aged 65 or older were 11 per cent less confident, and feelings among those with a Bachelor's degree or better fell 10 per cent. Voters also dropped their confidence in Biden's physical ability to be president from 21 to 15 per cent. 'Ratings of Trump's mental (39 per cent pre-debate, 41 per cent post-debate) and physical (43 per cent, 45 per cent) fitness were stable,' Ipsos said. However, when asked about their voting intentions, very few respondents said the debate would alter who they would actually support at the election.