Presidential Debate 2016: Who Won First Go-Around Between Clinton & Trump? [VIDEO]
It appears there may be a lack of true consensus when it comes to determining whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump won the very first debate ahead of the General Election this November.
The two Presidential candidates faced-off for the first time on stage at Hofstra University on Monday Night, and while many do seem to agree it is clear that Clinton won the debate and Trump was not actually very prepared, there are some who seem to believe he actually won the debate instead.
According to most political analysts and mainstream media, Clinton won the debate by remaining cool, calm and collected despite Trump's numerous personal attacks on her, and by using facts to make her points and slam her opponent. In fact, Clinton's ability to use Trump's Birtherism argument against President Obama for five years as a means of proving he built his campaign on racist sentiments, as well as her apology for her email scandal seemed to score her higher points. In addition, she appeared to successfully goad Trump several times into losing his cool, by getting him to seemingly admit he hasn't paid federal taxes in years (hence his refusal to disclose his tax returns to the American people), and by also hitting hard with his past decisions not to pay contractors who worked for him, leading Trump to snidely reply that he didn't think they "did a good job" and deserved to be paid, something he also later said might make good business sense for the United States.
Trump, while not providing many answers that made sense on big issues or really sharing his policies, also seemed to score low because of his consistent interruptions, as well as his claims that he had the "best temperament" to be President.
Poll results this morning also seem to indicate an upswing in Clinton's camp. While only a poll run by LA Times/USC Tracking has released its post-debate results thus far, and Trump is still ahead of Clinton in that poll, he has had a downtick in percentage points on it. After initially jumping four points ahead of Clinton in that poll over the weekend and on Monday, he is not listed as only being three points ahead in a general election that consists of just the two. Results from Bloomberg, Quinnipiac and others have not yet been released.
However, while that consensus seems to fit across the board on those fronts, there are others which seem to indicate that Clinton actually lost the debate, mainly because she came off as "robotic" and"Elitist," while Trump appealed to the American People-and a top trend on social media is even indicating that #TrumpWon.
However, some have also used that trend to mock the belief he had won, instead referring to both Trump and his supporters as delusional.