CNN instant poll: Kamala Harris ran away with the debate

A majority of voters who watched Tuesday’s debate picked Kamala Harris as the winner, according to an instant CNN/SSRS survey.

In the poll, 63 percent of those who watched the debate — a group that is not representative of the electorate as a whole — said Harris won. Just 37 percent said Donald Trump won the debate.

Harris’ apparent victory is notable because the same group of voters went into the debate with mixed expectations. Asked before the debate whom they thought would win, 50 percent predicted Harris, and 50 percent chose Trump.

The flash survey was conducted Tuesday night by text message with voters recruited ahead of time who agreed to be surveyed after the debate was over. The margin of error for the poll — which does not reflect the electorate as a whole — is plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.

The results diverge sharply from the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden. A flash poll conducted immediately following that debate showed two-in-three voters who watched it picked Trump as the winner, with just one-third calling Biden the winner.