Press. voanews.com
U.S.
presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump headed back to the
campaign trail Tuesday, a day after their contentious debate that independent
analysts largely agreed she won and could give her a national polling boost six
weeks ahead of the November 8 election. Political surveys before the debate
showed the two candidates locked in a tight contest, with Clinton, the
Democratic contender, holding a narrow 2-percentage-point advantage.
But political
scientist Alan Abramowitz of Emory University in Atlanta and poll analyst Nate
Silver both said Clinton could add another two points to her edge after she
kept Trump on the defensive through much of the debate, attacking him for
refusing to release his U.S. income tax returns, for failing to pay some
contractors he hired to build his golf courses and casinos, and for his lengthy
history of slurs against women.
"I wouldn't
be surprised if her poll numbers move up a little," Abramowitz told VOA.
"I think it might go up a couple points. I think it makes it a little more
difficult for Trump," the Republican nominee, to reach a majority in the
electoral college where U.S. presidential elections are decided based on
state-by-state results rather than the national popular vote.
He called
Clinton's debate performance "calm, cool and collected" and said she
was "able to talk about the issues." He described Trump as
"rather bombastic and superficial. I think he got in a lot of trouble on
race and gender issues."
Emory professor
Andra Gillespie said, "I think his campaign will try to regroup and he
might practice a little bit more before the next debate, as opposed to bragging
about how he may not have been practicing going into the [Monday] debate."
Silver, who runs
the fivethirtyeight.com election prediction internet site, wrote that the
contrast between Clinton, seeking to become the country's first female
president, and Trump "might be expected to produce a swing of 2 to 4
percentage points in the horse-race polls" in her favor.
Another analyst,
John Sides, a George Washington University political scientist, told VOA,
"My initial sense is that most reporters and commentators think that
Clinton outperformed Trump. Since there is evidence that any media consensus
can shape how voters also perceive the debate, that suggests that Clinton is
more likely to benefit than Trump."
Trump claims
victory
In the hours after the debate, Trump, a brash real estate mogul seeking
his first elected office, touted several unscientific instant polls of
debate-watchers showing him the winner, all except one conducted by the CNN
cable network that said she won.
But early
Tuesday he blamed the debate moderator, NBC news anchor Lester Holt, for
purportedly aiming harder questions at him than Clinton and what he claimed was
a "terrible" debate stage microphone that he said was set to a lower
volume than hers.
Clinton, as she
headed to the crucial, mid-Atlantic battleground election state of North
Carolina for a political rally, scoffed at Trump's microphone complaint. "Anybody
who complains about the microphone is not having a good night," she said.
Pollster Douglas
Schoen, who years ago conducted polls for Clinton's husband, former president
Bill Clinton, wrote on the Fox News website, "The debate, taken in its
entirety, demonstrates how much preparation really matters. She was ready for
all of his quips with a litany of detail that may have bored the viewer at
points, but showed why she is winning on qualifications, experience and
temperament in every poll."
But Trump
insisted in an interview on Fox News that he got the better of her, awarding
her performance a C-plus, while declining to give himself a grade on the
debate. According to Nielsen Company ratings, preliminary estimates show 81.4
million people watched the debate on 11 networks. Millions more watched online.
Trump 'eased up'
to spare feelings
His advisers
hinted that he might skip the next debate with Clinton set for October 9 in the
Midwestern city of St. Louis, Missouri, but Trump said he plans to attend both
of the remaining matchups with her.
Trump said he
might "hit her harder" the next time they meet.
"I really
eased up because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings," Trump said,
saying he would have "brought up the many affairs that Bill Clinton
had," but did not because the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, was in the
audience at Hofstra University, outside New York City. "I didn't think it
was worth the shot," Trump said. "I didn't think it was nice."
President
Clinton was impeached over lying about an affair he had while in the White
House, although the Senate did not convict him and he finished his eight-year
tenure in early 2001.
Asked about the
possibility that Trump might bring up her husband's infidelities, Hillary
Clinton told reporters, "He can run his campaign however he chooses." Trump headed to
Florida in the southeastern part of the country for a Tuesday rally in another
key election state where both candidates have made numerous appearances.