Biden named as candidate with worst performance at the 4th Democratic debate in Quinnipiac poll


Voters don't appear massively impressed by former Vice President Joe Biden's latest debate performance.
Democratic voters in a new Quinnipiac survey named Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as the candidate who turned in the best performance in the Oct. 15 primary debate, with 26 percent picking her. She's followed by South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who 17 percent of voters said won the debate. Biden came in third place, with 12 percent of voters saying his performance was the best.
But when voters were specifically asked who had the worst debate performance, Biden got the most mentions, with 15 percent of voters picking him, a higher percentage than said he had the best performance. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) followed Biden with 11 percent of voters saying her performance was the worst of the candidates. Four percent of voters named Warren as having the worst performance, and two percent named Sanders, while another 41 percent weren't sure.
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This poll also shows the percentage of voters naming Biden as the candidate most likely to beat President Trump in 2020 is declining. He still easily leads on that front, with 42 percent of voters saying he has the best chance of defeating the president, compared to 20 percent who say the same about Warren. But this is down from 56 percent who said Biden is the best candidate to beat Trump in April.
Quinnipiac's poll was conducted by speaking to 713 registered Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters from Oct. 17-21. The margin of error is 4.6 percentage points. Read the full results at Quinnipiac.
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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