- JL Partners surveyed 805 independent voters who watched Thursday’s debate
- “Trump has assumed the mantle of nanny-in-chief,” said pollster James Johnson.
- READ MORE: The words viewers used to describe Joe Biden’s performance
Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has seen him switch sides with Donald Trump when it comes to basic issues of competence, according to an exclusive poll for DailyMail.com.
More independent voters were found to prefer that Trump, a convicted felon, care for their children than the 81-year-old president, who cultivates a bright-eyed grandfatherly image.
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The JL Partners poll of 805 independent voters watching the debate found that Trump was the choice in each case.
This marks a surprising setback for Biden, whose aides had hoped to use the debate to remind viewers of the chaos and anxiety of Trump’s years in power.
JL Partners asked 805 independent voters their opinion of the two candidates following Thursday afternoon’s debate. Results suggest Trump is rated more competent than Biden
Instead, Biden showed every one of his 81 years in a halting, uncertain performance.
Independent voters overwhelmingly saw Trump as the winner, calling him the more presidential and stronger of the two candidates.
And 38 percent said they would want Trump to babysit their children, ahead of the 29 percent who said they would ask Biden to do so.
More than half said they would rather spend the Fourth of July with Trump, about the same percentage who said they would be better off staying home, perhaps worried that Biden would fall off a ladder.
“If you had told me earlier this year that independent voters would rather have Trump take care of their kids than Biden, I would have told you you were angry,” said James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners.
‘Even during the depths of his unpopularity, Biden has tended to be seen as the more supportive and competent of the two leaders.
“Debate night changed that.”
He added that voters were so concerned about Biden’s age (eight in 10 of them, according to the poll) that they now doubt his basic competence.
“For voters, competence is not a dry, administrative quality, but is linked to strength and purpose,” he said.
The candidates are the oldest in history. Trump is only three years younger than Biden
How did it feel to hear Joe Biden speak at the first presidential debate?
‘Biden demonstrated none of those qualities in the debate and, almost by default, Trump assumed the role of nanny-in-chief.’
The Biden campaign had pushed for an early debate — the earliest in history — because they believed many voters had not yet focused on the choice they would face in November.
But the move backfired, setting off a frantic round of soul-searching among Democrats worried they were letting the election slip.
Among the independents, the group that will decide the result in November, the verdict was brutal.
Asked for one word to describe how listening to Biden made them feel, respondents said: Worried, concerned, sad.