Most polls give Clinton victory in final presidential debate

20 Oct 2016

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was widely seen to have won the third and final US presidential debate with Republian Donald Trump, which ended in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The debate, moderated by Fox News' Chris Wallace, spanned over several issues, including abortion, immigration and the relationship United States shares with Russia, as well as the Second Amendment which gives Americans the right to carry arms.

 
Donald trump (L) and Hillary Clinton square-off in the third round of the 2016 presidential debate  

Trump ended his address refusing to give an assurance that he will accept the 8 November election results. Trump has been claiming over the past week that the elections could be rigged. The remark was termed ''horrifying'' by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Several polls that were conducted by news organisations and pollsters - CNN, Fox News, Vox, YouGov and RealClearPolitics, among others - stated that Clinton had crushed Trump in the debate.

CNN flatly declared Hillary Clinton the winner of the debate, in its first opinion poll of the night. The survey found that 52 per cent of voters believe Clinton won the 90-minute debate on Wednesday night compared to 39 per cent of participants who said that her rival Donald Trump emerged victorious.

According to RealClearPolitics, which keeps track of all major polls, Clinton leads Trump by 6.9 percentage points. Democrats accounted for 36 per cent of voters and 29 per cent of Republican. The survey carried a plus or minus 4 per cent margin of error.

Sixty per cent of the debate watchers said that Trump spent the majority of the debate attacking Clinton.

YouGov's post-debate poll also shows Clinton winning the third presidential debate. According to their poll, which interviewed 1,503 registered voters who watched the debate, Clinton won the debate against Trump by 49 per cent to 39 per cent, with 12 per cent saying it was a tie.

Vox said, ''The third and final presidential debate has ended, and it can now be said, Clinton crushed Trump in the most effective series of debate performances in modern political history.''

The Daily Gazette conducted the polls in a slightly different manner. It conducted the polls whilst the debate was going on and majority of the votes which came in said that Clinton had defeated Trump.

Trump tweeted a Washington Times poll in which he won the debate. The Washington Times, which conducted an online poll, said 77 per cent supported Trump while just 17 per cent backed Clinton.

Clinton also won the Breitbart online poll, according to which she had the support of 59.3 per cent of the respondents, while 40.65 backed Trump. This is interesting because Trump's campaign CEO is former Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon.

Meanwhile, both the camps declared victory for themselves.