Who won the debate? Early polls say Joe Biden.

Joe Biden won the first debate, voters say.

(Image credit: Morry Gash-Pool/Getty Images)

published 30 September 2020

Early polls show that Democratic nominee Joe Biden was the runaway winner of the first presidential debate, with CNN's survey showing a full 60 percent of Americans believe he won the night, compared to 28 percent who believe President Trump did — a two-to-one margin.

"There was no winner, certainly not the United States," wrote Nate Cohn of The New York Times. "And that makes Biden the winner. He's the frontrunner. It's Trump who needed the win, and I think most anyone would agree, as Chris Wallace said, that the president was largely responsible for the debate."

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Trump trails Biden in RealClearPolitics' average of polls by 6.1 percent.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.