Most in new poll planning to watch Trump, Biden debate

Most U.S. adults say they plan to watch some form of media about Thursday’s presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump, a new survey found.

The poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and released Wednesday, found that 64 percent of respondents say they likely will watch or listen to some or all of the upcoming debate.

About 37 percent said they are “extremely likely” to tune in, while 27 percent say it’s “somewhat likely” that they will watch the debate, hosted by CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Thirty-five percent of respondents said it’s “not too likely” that they would tune into the debate at all.

More respondents, 40 percent, say they will listen to or watch clips of the debate later on. Just more than 40 percent of survey takers, however, said it is “extremely likely” they will watch, listen or read about the debate in the news or on social media.

The results suggest that millions of Americans are ready to hear what Biden and Trump have to say on the stage ahead of a contentious rematch later this year, despite the earlier-than-average date for a presidential debate.

In an online exchange earlier this year, the presumptive party nominees quickly agreed to two debates: one in June and the second in September. They also agreed to a set of rules proposed by CNN, including mic muting, after a chaotic last meeting during a debate in 2020.

The survey found that most respondents think the debate is going to be important to both campaigns.

Roughly 47 percent of respondents said they believe Biden’s on-stage performance Thursday is going to be extremely important to his campaign’s performance. Around 41 percent said the same about the former president.

Still, as Americans signal they will tune in to the forum Thursday, they are not happy with who will be on stage. Most Americans — 56 percent — say they are dissatisfied with Biden being the Democratic Party’s likely presidential nominee, and 51 percent of Republicans feel the same way about Trump, The Associated Press reported.

The CNN debate will be at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday in Atlanta.

The AP-NORC survey was conducted June 20-24 among 1,088 adults. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.