Republicans are more likely than Democrats to watch Thursday night’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a new poll has found, with a majority of American voters overall expressing interest in the highly-anticipated rematch. However, even as the country turns its eyes towards the CNN debate stage, other surveys indicate that the public is yearning for more substance on key issues and expressing record mistrust in the media establishment.
According to the results of a new Syracuse University/Ipsos American Identity poll published on Thursday, 61% of Americans overall plan on tuning in for the televised debate. Broken down by party affiliation, Republican supporters of Donald Trump are significantly more likely to watch the event than their Democrat counterparts. 75% of Republicans are at least “somewhat likely” to watch the debate live, compared to 60% of Democrats and 58% of Independents.
Among the smaller subset of respondents who consider themselves “very likely” to watch the debate, 45% are Republicans, 30% are Democrats, and 23% are Independents.
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The poll also found that 68% of the general public believes that “American democracy works pretty well for most people,” while 28% say it is not working at all and needs to change. A full 81% of Democrats, 52% of Independents, and 14% of Republicans say that Trump is a major threat to the democratic process and the rule of law, compared to 4% of Democrats, 32% of Independents, and 65% of Republicans who say this of Biden.
Lastly, the survey determined that 45% of respondents (29% Republicans, 64% of Democrats, 51% of Independents) feel that “journalists are essential to protecting democracy,” but only 22% (15% Republicans, 34% Democrats, 23% Independents) trust mainstream news outlets to give them the facts.
Discussing the anticipated performances of each candidate during the debate, Ipsos senior vice president Chris Jackson addressed the role word-of-mouth and social media will play in shaping public perception. In a statement to Axios, Jackson argued that those who rely on conservative media sources will go into the debate “really believing this narrative that Biden’s this senile old man who’s secretly or not-so-secretly controlled” by Vice President Kamala Harris and other political operatives.
“The big question is going to be, are they informed by what happens in this debate?” Jackson said. “Historically, more people learn about the debate from the news coverage than the actual debate. There are big swaths of Americans who are just not spending a lot of time with mainstream news coverage — but social media, friends, nothing. That speaks to the challenge: How do you reach people who are sort of unreachable?”
The first presidential debate will air live on CNN and its online platforms at 9:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, June 27.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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