The first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump could highlight how the candidates are tackling the key topics for voters ahead of the 2024 election.
A new Benzinga exclusive poll highlights how likely voters are to be swayed by the debate and what topics they want addressed.
What Happened: Millions of potential voters are expected to tune into the first 2024 presidential debate Thursday night. The 90-minute debate is hosted by CNN, which is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD), beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Benzinga recently polled readers to find out how likely the debate is to sway their vote and what key issues they want the candidates to address that might impact their voting decision.
The poll found that 84% of respondents have already decided who they are going to vote for in the 2024 election. The results were:
- Joe Biden: 33%
- Donald Trump: 52%
- Neither: 16%
The poll found that only 16% of voters said that something could be said or done during the debate that would change their support for their preferred candidate.
Benzinga asked which topic readers most want to hear Trump and Biden discuss during Thursday's debate. The results were:
- Economy/Inflation: 50%
- Immigration: 31%
- Ukraine/Gaza Wars: 13%
- Bitcoin/Crypto: 6%
The results show the economy continues to be a key topic and concern for voters ahead of the 2024 election and was the wide winner with 50% of results. Immigration ranked second at 31% and comes as the Biden campaign has put a bigger focus on the topic.
While international conflicts and Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) are key topics that could make their way into Thursday's debate, readers were less concerned about either issue.
Cryptocurrency is trending up as a topic that could impact voters' decisions, and any inclusion of the topic Thursday could make Bitcoin volatile in Thursday night trading.
While many topics could be discussed by the candidates Thursday, the 90-minute time limit and two planned commercial breaks could prevent everything from being covered.
A question on what worries readers most about the debate saw important topics being ignored as the top vote getter at 74%. This beat out the debate turning into a shouting match (19%) and a reader's favorite candidate embarrassing himself during the debate (7%).
Why It's Important: Benzinga recently asked readers if they planned on watching Thursday's night first 2024 presidential debate. Sixty-four percent of readers who took part in the poll said they planned to watch.
The majority of respondents also said they plan on watching the entire 90-minute debate.
CNN could benefit from hosting the debate and the agreement by both candidates to allow for commercial breaks. CNN has allowed other networks to air the debate with the CNN watermark displayed.
The 2020 presidential election featured two debates, which attracted 73 million viewers (September) and 63 million viewers (October).
ABC, which is a unit of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), is set to host a second 2024 presidential debate on Oct. 22. That debate will take place close to the 2024 election day on Nov. 5, similar to the timing of the later debates in the 2020 election cycle.
The study was conducted by Benzinga in June 2024 and included the responses of a diverse population of adults 18 or older. Opting into the survey was completely voluntary, with no incentives offered to potential respondents. The study reflects results from 161 adults.
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