Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off on Monday in the first of three presidential debates before Election Day on November 8.
Despite featuring two of the least liked candidates in modern history, the 90-minute debate was expected to draw a record number of viewers across multiple networks, including NBC, CNN, and Fox.
Monday night's showdown, moderated by NBC's Lester Holt from Hofstra University in Long Island, was divided into six 15-minute segments, though the segments often went over the time allotment.
The topics were "America's Direction" (the state of the union), "Achieving Prosperity" (the economy), and "Securing America" (national security and foreign policy).
Hillary Clinton was the clear winner at Monday night’s presidential debate, according to two focus groups.
Republican pollster Frank Luntz reported on Twitter that 16 people in his focus group thought Clinton, the Democratic nominee, came out as the winner. Only six people thought the winner was the Republican nominee Trump.
A CNN focus group of undecided Florida voters arrived at the same conclusion. Eighteen of the 20 participants chose Clinton as the winner.
According to Luntz, some of Trump’s lines had trouble connecting with the audience.
For instance, the New York businessman’s attack on Clinton’s stamina appeared to benefit her more than him:
Trump is playing a losing game trying to explain Hillary's lack stamina/looks (?)#DebateNight pic.twitter.com/b9zsVZn7mq
In another instance, Clinton’s defense of NATO rated better among Luntz’s focus groups than Trump’s criticism of it:
Hillary's plan to work with allies against ISIS is doing better than Trump's criticisms of NATO.#DebateNight
Clinton also did well selling herself to Trump voters with her answer on defeating ISIS.
Her answer on how to defeat the terror group “scored high with Trump-leaners than even with her own HRC-leaners,” Luntz noted:
Hillary's plan to fight ISIS scored higher with Trump-leaners than even with her own HRC-leaners.#DebateNight
Monday’s debate at Hofstra University was the first of three debates set to take place before voters cast their ballots in November.
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