Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden has posted his biggest poll lead over President Donald Trump following their debate Sept. 29.
Biden's national lead over Trump is now 53% to 39% - mainly because of the perception Biden won the debate against Trump. This 14 point lead is Biden's largest, according to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Biden's previous high in this poll was 11 points in July.
Registered voters said by 2-to-1 that Biden had the better temperament to be president. They said Biden did a better job at the debate - also by 2-to-1. This translates to 49% saying Biden won the debate compared with 24%.
After the debate, 19% of voters said they were more likely to vote for Biden compared with 6% who said they were more likely to back Trump.
The biggest fall in support for Trump was among seniors and women. The poll showed seniors now back Biden by 62% to 35% while suburban women choose Biden 58% to 33%.
Another turnaround was among men 50 years and older. Before the debate, this age group gave Trump a 13-point edge. After the debate, this group now favors Biden by one point.
"The clear loser from the debate was Donald Trump," said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates. "And at least for the short term, this has damaged his standing against Joe Biden." Horwitt conducted the poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
The poll showed 55% of registered voters disapproves of Trump's job performance - including 50% that said it strongly disapproved and 43 percent which approved of Trump's performance.
Trump's favorability rating fell from 41% positive-52% negative before the debate to 39% positive-55%.
