Every voter completely changes mind after last night’s presidential debate
Last night’s presidential debate was one for the ages. A rich, orange man and also-rich-but-not-quite-as-rich pantsuited lady yelled at each other for an hour and a half on prime time television, and both candidates left exactly as they wanted: having convinced everyone of their worthiness. But a new NBC poll has found that it may have worked too well. “Every viewer was so impressed with the other candidate that they changed their vote,” says political polling analyst James Hamilton. “Literally all of them.”
In what is being hailed as “the biggest voter shift ever that won’t have any effect on the election because it’s still 50–50,” experts say we’re in for a wild ride coming up to November. To prepare for the additional hype, CNN has announced that they’re going to bump up their election coverage to 27 hours a day instead of their typical 24 hours.
The reasons for switching votes after watching last night’s debate varied. For some people, it was more about exposure to new ideas. “I had no idea Donald Trump was running against anyone,” says 52-year-old Bill Thompson, a retired postal worker. “I just figured he was the only person running because all of his TV ads were the loudest.”
For others, it was a change in perception. “Donald Trump said way less racist things than I was expecting during the debate,” says 29-year-old retired kindergarten teacher Rebecca Enriquez. “Still a lot of racist things, but much less of them. I like this slightly less racist version of him.”
Confused what to do with their new voter groups, each candidate has already launched a new strategy. Hillary Clinton’s campaign is looking to win back the female voters that she had largely taken as a given this election. Donald Trump’s campaign was left uncomfortable with so many voters of colour, but said they’re just going to picture them as white in their heads.
© Dan Kalmar
