Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton today emerged as the “clear winner” after the second US presidential debate, according to polls that did credit her Republican rival Donald Trump for “exceeding expectations”. A CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers showed a clear victory for Clinton, with 57 per cent saying Clinton won as opposed to 34 per cent for Trump. CNN said the polls suggest a strong showing for Clinton, but not as good as her performance at the first presidential debate, when 62 per cent of debate watchers said she won. The results also track closely with watchers’ pre-debate preference. 58 per cent of debate watchers said they were supporting Clinton before the debate.

A CNN/ORC poll conducted after the September 27 showdown between the two presidential nominees in the first of the three debates had also shown Clinton as the clear winner, with nearly 62 per cent of voters supporting her as compared to Trump, who was deemed winner by only 27 per cent. According to YouGov’s post-debate poll, which interviewed 812 registered voters who watched today’s debate, Clinton won the debate with 47 per cent against Trump’s 42 per cent. It said Clinton narrowly won undecideds’ 44 per cent to 41 per cent.