Voters said Kamala Harris made them feel “hopeful” when asked for a one-word summary of her performance in Tuesday night’s debate.
It’s the latest indication that the vice president has performed better than many expected against former President Donald Trump, and in this case, he won the war of feelings.
When responses for Trump were organized into a word cloud, the most prominent term was “annoying.”
The details come from an online survey of 800 independent voters conducted by JL Partners on Tuesday night.
The headline numbers showed that 49 percent thought Harris had performed better on a night when Trump appeared to let his opponent get the better of him.
JL Partners surveyed 800 independent voters who watched Tuesday’s debate. Voters said Kamala Harris made them feel hopeful and confident, but also upset.
By contrast, 43 percent said they thought Trump won the night.
But respondents were also asked a series of more detailed questions to get a sense of each candidate’s strongest moments, the one word that summed up their overall performance and a brief description of how they made viewers feel.
For Harris, the most prominent terms to describe how viewers felt were “hopeful,” “confident” and “strong,” marred only by the word “upset,” which also featured prominently.
This suggests his promise to bring joy back to campaigning may be resonating with voters.
For Trump, “confident” appeared prominently, but “angry,” “scared,” “worried” and “confused” also figured in his vibration cloud.
“Kamala Harris won the battle of vibes last night: Voters felt hopeful when they heard her, compared to anger at Trump,” said James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners.
‘That was basically the strategic goal of Harris’ campaign: to project a positive image of their candidate that reflected change and provoke Trump into being as aggressive as possible.
‘However, a good portion of independents still thought Trump was confident and strong, but not as much as they thought Harris was.
“In a very close race, that difference matters.”
The 800 independent voters also described what they believe was each candidate’s best moment.
The two candidates first met at the ABC News debate in Philadelphia. They spent more than an hour and a half arguing about abortion, the economy and foreign policy.
Harris came with a plan to discourage Trump, and she seemed to succeed. She generated the most viral moment of the night when she ridiculed Trump’s campaign rallies, saying people left early out of “exhaustion and boredom.”
He defended what he called the “most incredible demonstrations in the history of politics” before going on to repeat an extraordinary online rumour about immigrants eating pets.
“That’s extreme,” Harris said, laughing.
The result was that Trump’s plan to define his opponent in the minds of viewers took a backseat for long periods of time as he defended himself or launched personal attacks.
Trump again refused to acknowledge his 2020 election loss and at times raised his voice while launching personal attacks against Harris.
However, both candidates can find some solace at other times of the night.
Our panel of independent voters declared Vice President Kamala Harris the best performer of the night, calling her more presidential than Donald Trump.
Viewers thought Trump won on the key issues of the economy and the border.
Trump did well on some of the most important issues that will decide the 2024 election.
When viewers were asked to sum up their best moment in one word, the results were: border, economics, politics and immigration.
Harris’s word cloud was dominated by the word “abortion,” after she offered a clear and comprehensive policy position on an issue where Trump is clearly struggling to reconcile his personal views with pressure from religious conservatives who are crucial to his coalition.
The two candidates are locked in a tight race.
Harris had seen her stock and fundraising surge following her surprise entry into the race in July. But there are signs that her honeymoon is coming to an end and the polls are tightening again.
Our DailyMail.com/JL Partners election model gives Trump a 55 percent chance of winning.