Final Presidential Debate: 
COVID-19

COVID-19

Dial-test video results for portions of the “COVID-19” segment are included below, which make clear the specific issues on which the candidates’ positions attract voters and those where there is weakness. Further insight is provided by examining the shaded areas in the video.  Using the ratings scale on the left, the shaded area above the middle indicates the percentage of Republicans, Democrats and Independents who believe a moment is a “Great Moment” while the shaded area below the middle indicates the percentage of each group that believe that a statement that was made is “Not True”.

Play the video and identify the moments of strength and weakness for each audience segment or contact Mercury for a more in-depth review.

Who Did Better: COVID-19

Q: Overall, who would you say did better in this video?
(‘Much’ or ‘Somewhat’ better for each candidate)

Key Takeaways

The segment dealing with COVID-19 showed Republicans and Democrats are far apart on these issues. Although not always, Independents, who are split in the middle, generally rose slightly as Joe Biden spoke, and fell slightly as Donald Trump spoke. Republicans showed less negativity to Joe Biden than Democrats showed to Donald Trump, reinforcing the theme that Donald Trump generates strong negative reaction among Democrats while Joe Biden is seen less negatively by Republicans. COVID-19 and the handling of the pandemic is a political dividing line.

FULL SEGMENT DIAL-Test 

Below view the dial-test results among Republicans, Democrats and Independents. For more detailed analysis for other audience segments, please contact Jordan Kraft at 202-386-6322 x 322.