Clinton Wins Third Debate, Gains Ground as 'Presidential'

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Hillary Clinton won round three of the 2016 presidential debates, according to Americans who watched or listened to the event on Wednesday evening. Six in 10 of those who tuned in thought Clinton did the better job, while 31% chose Donald Trump.

	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump	Candidate advantage
	%	%	(pct. pts.)
All debate viewers
Third debate	60	31	Clinton +29
Second debate	53	35	Clinton +18
First debate	61	27	Clinton +34
Democrats
Third debate	96	2	Clinton +94
Second debate	93	3	Clinton +90
First debate	92	3	Clinton +89
Independents
Third debate	58	35	Clinton +23
Second debate	51	32	Clinton +19
First debate	59	30	Clinton +29
Republicans
Third debate	19	64	Trump +45
Second debate	15	71	Trump +56
First debate	28	53	Trump +25
Among U.S. adults who watched or listened to each debate
Gallup; post-debate polls based on interviewing conducted Sept. 27-28, 2016, Oct. 10-11, 2016, and Oct. 20-21, 2016

Clinton's sweep of all three debates puts her in the company of Barack Obama in 2008, John Kerry in 2004 and Bill Clinton in 1996. Each won all of the presidential debates that took place in those election years, although Kerry still failed to win the 2004 election.

In addition to nearly unanimously being perceived as the winner by rank-and-file Democrats (96%) for her performance in the debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Clinton was the solid pick among political independents (58%). Nearly one in five Republicans (19%) also chose her as the winner.

The 29-percentage-point overall advantage for Clinton in perceptions of who won the third debate is almost as big as her 34-point lead over Trump in the first debate. A bare majority of Republicans thought Trump won the first debate -- his worst performance of the three. And Clinton's third-debate advantage is a clear improvement over her 18-point lead in overall perceptions of who won the second debate.

Two-Thirds of Female Viewers Pick Clinton as the Winner

Part of the reason for Clinton's strong advantage over Trump in all three post-debate polls is the high proportion of women naming her as the winner in each. Most recently, 67% of women watching the third debate said Clinton performed best, whereas 26% chose Trump -- better than 2-to-1. Men also chose Clinton over Trump, but by a slimmer 19-point margin (54% vs. 35%).

	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump	Clinton advantage
	%	%	(pct. pts.)
Women
Third debate	67	26	+41
Second debate	58	32	+26
First debate	69	21	+48
Men
Third debate	54	35	+19
Second debate	49	38	+11
First debate	53	33	+20
Among U.S. adults who watched or listened to each debate
Gallup; post-debate polls based on interviewing conducted Sept. 27-28, 2016, Oct. 10-11, 2016, and Oct. 20-21, 2016

Clinton Stretches Her Advantage as "Presidential"

After each debate, Gallup has asked viewers to compare the candidates' performance on four specific personal dimensions, including their command of the issues, appearance as presidential, likability and ability to be inspiring.

Clinton excelled on perceptions of competency in the first debate, with 62% saying she had the better understanding of issues versus 26% naming Trump on this dimension. In the second debate, her ratings for being likable inched higher while the others held steady or sagged slightly. In the third debate, she made some headway on the final two qualities:

• Sixty-four percent of viewers chose Clinton as the more presidential of the two candidates on the Nevada stage, up from 56% in the second debate and 59% in the first.
• The percentage choosing Clinton as the more inspiring increased slightly -- to 50% from 44% in the second debate and 46% in the first.

	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump	Clinton advantage
	%	%	(pct. pts.)
Appeared presidential
Third debate	64	26	+38
Second debate	56	27	+29
First debate	59	27	+32
Had a good understanding of the issues
Third debate	63	26	+37
Second debate	59	28	+31
First debate	62	26	+36
Was more likable
Third debate	59	31	+28
Second debate	59	31	+28
First debate	55	36	+19
Was inspiring
Third debate	50	31	+19
Second debate	44	34	+10
First debate	46	34	+12
Among U.S. adults who watched or listened to each debate
Gallup; post-debate polls based on interviewing conducted Sept. 27-28, 2016, Oct. 10-11, 2016, and Oct. 20-21, 2016

The moderator of the third debate, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, stuck to the handful of policy-based issues he pre-announced he would focus on.

Clinton came out significantly ahead of Trump in viewers' ratings of their performance on most of these, holding a particularly strong edge in perceptions of who would best deal with international crises as president. Sixty percent chose her, compared with 35% naming Trump.

Clinton also led by roughly 15 points as the better candidate to deal with immigration, the Supreme Court, Social Security and Russia.

At the same time, Trump came within four points of Clinton in ratings of which would be better for the economy and the federal debt, indicating a potential vulnerability for Clinton in the closing days of the campaign.

	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump	Clinton advantage
	%	%	(pct. pts.)
Dealing with international crises	60	35	+25
Immigration	56	41	+15
The Supreme Court	56	40	+16
Social Security	55	39	+16
Dealing with Russia	54	39	+15
The economy	50	46	+4
The federal debt	49	45	+4
Among U.S. adults who watched or listened to the third debate
Gallup; Oct. 20-21, 2016

Debate Viewers Ready to Accept Election Outcome

Reiterating his concerns about voter fraud and other ways the presidential election might be corrupted, Trump refused to guarantee that he would "absolutely accept the result of this election" when Wallace asked the Republican nominee if he agreed with his running mate's pledge.

However, 83% of Americans who watched or heard the third debate responded affirmatively to the same question, including 94% of Democrats, 80% of independents and 77% of Republicans. While 12% of Republicans said they would not accept the results, nearly as many (9%) said "it depends," possibly reflecting the Trump campaign's post-debate spin that a recount would be warranted if Trump were to lose by a narrow margin.

	Yes, will	No, will not	Depends (vol.)	No opinion
	%	%	%	%
All debate viewers	83	12	4	1
Democrats	94	6	0	<1
Independents	80	16	3	2
Republicans	77	12	9	2
Among U.S. adults who watched or listened to the third debate; "vol." = volunteered response
Gallup; Oct. 20-21, 2016

Bottom Line

Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, Clinton accomplished a trifecta in the debates, leading Trump by substantial margins in viewer perceptions of who won each contest. And, as evident in her gains on the personal qualities Gallup tracked across the debates, Clinton maintained or strengthened her image as an informed leader with the temperament to be president.

On the issues, Clinton earned a commanding lead in the third debate for being better prepared to handle international crises and led Trump on two of his signature themes -- dealing with Russia and immigration. The one area where she may be vulnerable is the economy, for which debate viewers were nearly as likely to say Trump would be the more effective of the two if elected president.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 20-21, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 682 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia who watched or listened to the Oct. 19 debate. For results based on the total sample of U.S. debate viewers, the margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

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