Polls: Clinton Wins Second Debate by Narrower Margin than First

[columbus]

"The results Sunday also track closely with watchers' pre-debate preference. Fifty-eight percent of debate watchers said they were supporting Clinton before the debate."

58% of random people "sufficiently engaged to watch the debate" support Clinton?
That bodes very well for the election, don't you think?
Tom

 

[Scott C.]

If he was already losing, how does "not losing even more supporters" qualify as a decisive win?

Trump needs a bunch of new supporters, to stay even. He has been hemorrhaging them all weekend. People like Romney are looking prophetic and Pence is looking the fool.

Tom

I believe he clobbered Hillary in the debate. But he's in a lot of trouble. It takes more than a decisive win in one debate to win hearts and minds. I enjoyed watching him hammer Hillary on issues that she did not answer, such as her vicious attacks on Bill's sexual assault victims. Using power for sexual favors, seduction, or out right assault is grossly immoral. I'm not sure who is more guilty in this regard, Bill or Donald. Hillary is a hypocrite to claim the high ground on protecting and believing the victims of sexual assault. I wanted to see her hit hard in the debate and she was. Unfortunately it was by a man for whom I have no respect.

 

[Scuba Pete]

i see Trump more rational than Hillary.

Which debate did you watch? Trump never answered the questions. Never. He used questions as jumping boards to go WAY off topic. Gives new meaning to the phrase "Don't Trump me, bro!"

 

[columbus]

I believe he clobbered Hillary in the debate.

This response is very Trumpish.
You made an unsupported assertion about who won the debate, then ignored my question and started talking about Billary.
Tom

 

[Scuba Pete]

I believe he clobbered Hillary in the debate.

Have yourself checked out for DCS. Type II at that. (We might be the only ones who get that.)

 

[Acim]

Unless one ignores much of what was said last night and even image, one has to give at least the edge to Hillary. Trump never really gets close to citing specifics, plus his stage presence was bizarre to say the least. Granted he did better than the first debate, so guess that's a victory of sorts for him.

The getting to specifics part is a) what the debate ought to be about, b) what it was last night barely about and c) is something that would be interesting to see who truly has the edge. Like before typing this post, I skimmed the transcript. In first about 1/4th of the debate it is more on character items. Anyone can review that and see if specifics on policy are found there and whether that was in response to any question. But on first item I found, the question was:

Affordable Care Act, known as Obama care. It is not affordable. Premiums have gone up. Deductibles have gone up. Co-pays have gone up. Prescriptions have gone up. And the coverage has gone down. What will you do to bring the costs down and make coverage better?

And Hillary went first on this (because Trump is a gentleman, ha), and this is honestly as close as I can find to her addressing the question asked:

And I have laid out a series of actions that we can take to try and get those costs down.

So, this implies she has specifics, just none to share during the debate, as she'd rather people focus on the benefits of ACA. Though after going through all that she does say:

But we have got to get costs down, we have to provide some additional help to small businesses so that they can afford to provide health insurance.

While Trump's response included:

We have to repeal it, and replace it with something absolutely much less expensive. And something that works. Where your plan can actually be tailored. We have to get rid of the lines around the state, artificial lines. Where we stop insurance companies from coming in and competing because they wanted President Obama and whoever was working on it. They want to leave those lines because that gives the insurance companies, essentially, monopolies.

Much of the rest of what he says is bashing on ACA as being disastrous.

So, on this one I'd say within what is provided in the debate, he slightly edges her out on specifics and neither of them spent anywhere near the amount of time on specifics for policies as they did on character assassination type stuff. But to say "one has to give edge to Hillary" on citing specifics, this would be at least once case where that isn't accurate.

Plus there's just the ongoing debate on the specifics. But that's honestly more than what I think even these two candidates can reasonably get into during a debate. Just to list their specifics is one thing, but the political reality is whether what they're planning will actually help (i.e. bring the costs down and make coverage better) or will it do something else (keep costs about the same, likely going up, and make coverage better by a standard that a whole lot of people may disagree with - such as I can now get free pregnancy exams, as a male)?

 

[Scott C.]

This response is very Trumpish.
You made an unsupported assertion about who won the debate, then ignored my question and started talking about Billary.
Tom

I tried to answer your question. One can win a debate without gaining supporters as a result. I don't necessarily vote for the person who I think wins the most debates. Debating is a skill. Some are better than others. Being a good debater does not make you right or make you qualified to be president, necessarily.

My view is not Trumpish. I don't think he won the first debate. Is that Trumpish? Hillary looked pissed and at times like a dear in the headlights. She did not respond well to his accusations and he delivered some good zingers. I thought he was on his game. I suppose if one thinks Trump's accusations are not true and are not worthy of a response, then Trump scores no points. But I thought he articulated well and aggressively the criticisms of many against Hillary and she had no answers. Her "I'll take the high road" response and then her failure to address the issues came across to me as a weak excuse for having no answers.

 

[Sunstone]

The Second Debate Probably Didn’t Help Trump, And He Needed Help

Excellent article!

 

[metis]

So, on this one I'd say within what is provided in the debate, he slightly edges her out on specifics and neither of them spent anywhere near the amount of time on specifics for policies as they did on character assassination type stuff. But to say "one has to give edge to Hillary" on citing specifics, this would be at least once case where that isn't accurate.

But that was only one of a fair number of items that were covered, plus Donald was not at all specific as to what would replace the ACA and how that would supposedly be achieved. Hillary admitted there were issues, especially with cost, but went on to say that this could be worked on in a bipartisan fashion, which does make sense. The idea of suddenly taking 20 million Americans off of the ACA would be very cruel, to say the least, but also that it is unnecessary since there are many good provisions found within it.

Also, the rate of medical inflation actually has declined since 2008, going from slightly over 9% per year to a bit over 7% per year which, granted, is still too high, imo. But what we have here in the States is the only for-profit basic medical-care system found in the world, so much of both of these figures are tied up in profits and advertising. Medicare, which is based on a single-payer approach, is much more efficient.

Anyhow, I'm only citing this area since you brought it up, but the point still stands that in most other areas Trump simply cited platitudes minus any specifics, which is why the moderators kept trying to get him to give more details.

 

[FearGod]

Which debate did you watch? Trump never answered the questions. Never. He used questions as jumping boards to go WAY off topic. Gives new meaning to the phrase "Don't Trump me, bro!"

Such as ....., what questions that he didn't answer and what great answers that Hillary did?

 

[Scuba Pete]

The Second Debate Probably Didn’t Help Trump, And He Needed Help

Excellent article!

That was a great article.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Such as ....., what questions that he didn't answer and what great answers that Hillary did?

He didn't answer one question except for the last one.

Look at his answer to how to prevent Islamaphobia. He actually answered with Islamaphobic comments! It was as ironic an answer as one could ever devise. People are afraid of Trump. Many like me, he scares indirectly. But many Muslims, Mexicans and Blacks are fearful of a direct assault on them and theirs should he become president.

 

[esmith]

Now for the other side

 

[Godobeyer]

I think the last hope for Trump is working for jail Clinton before the election , not after the election.

 

[Scuba Pete]

What happens when the media is actually biased. 2 phreakin phunni!

 

[metis]

I think the last hope for Trump is working for jail Clinton before the election , not after the election.

Frankly, I do believe it's a good bet to believe that Trump would do that if he felt he could get away with it. Over and over again he has proven that he is more than willing to manipulate people for his own end and that any semblance of even basic compassion and fairness towards others is missing. And, btw, I have never said this about any other candidate over my 71 years. His "locker-room talk" is only one example of this, as words do have meaning, which is why we post here on RF.

 

[FearGod]

He didn't answer one question except for the last one.

Look at his answer to how to prevent Islamaphobia. He actually answered with Islamaphobic comments! It was as ironic an answer as one could ever devise. People are afraid of Trump. Many like me, he scares indirectly. But many Muslims, Mexicans and Blacks are fearful of a direct assault on them and theirs should he become president.

He was frank and telling the truth, Hillary was lying and saying nonsense.

Watch the real situation in America

 

[Acim]

But that was only one of a fair number of items that were covered, plus Donald was not at all specific as to what would replace the ACA and how that would supposedly be achieved. Hillary admitted there were issues, especially with cost, but went on to say that this could be worked on in a bipartisan fashion, which does make sense.

I'm addressing your previous claim and you're onto new claim "Donald was not at all specific as to what would replace ACA." I provided information from what both said to back my position which is on that item, Donald provide more specifics than Hillary. None provided much, or more like very little.

The idea of suddenly taking 20 million Americans off of the ACA would be very cruel, to say the least, but also that it is unnecessary since there are many good provisions found within it.

So, keep some of the good provisions, and change the bad stuff. That can occur upon repeal and replace. Seems hard to imagine that "replace and replace" would not take into consideration something that pretty much all consumers like (i.e. can't deny coverage based on pre-existing condition).

Anyhow, I'm only citing this area since you brought it up, but the point still stands that in most other areas Trump simply cited platitudes minus any specifics, which is why the moderators kept trying to get him to give more details.

I'm going to need you to back that up with information from the transcripts. I doubt it is most other areas, but don't deny it is some other areas. On this item regarding ACA, in the area where this question was asked and addressed, I would say clearly Trump provided more specifics than Hillary and am acknowledging both provided oh so little.

I predict on most of the things Hillary cited specifics it is the kind of stuff Obama would've said in 2007 on the same issue. As in, sounds nice during campaign time, but chances are - it ain't gonna happen, under Hillary's watch.

 

[Acim]

He didn't answer one question except for the last one.

Glad I already have evidence in this thread that shows otherwise.

Look at his answer to how to prevent Islamaphobia. He actually answered with Islamaphobic comments!

Please cite those comments from the transcripts.

 

[Godobeyer]

He was frank and telling the truth, Hillary was lying and saying nonsense.

Watch the real situation in America

but I think he will do more than this to Muslims and Latino,if he take control.