Presidential debate: Trump retained his core voters – Christopher Phelps

The headlines across the globe say Clinton nailed the first presidential debate, while the polls conducted post the debate suggests Trump was the one who came out on top even though he was much restrained than he usually is.

In this segment, Christopher Phelps, Associate Professor of American History, Uni. of Nottingham, delves deep into the presidential race and dissects the performance on both the candidates. Viewers would agree after watching this segment that although Clinton clearly won the debate, Trump did manage to retain his core voters.

Key points:

Trump was on the top on the first half

Phelps believes Trump appeared to be on top while discussing economic and security issues

Where did Trump fail? - Trump failed to appeal to demographics he has not been good with – Latinos, Balcks, and Women in general. But he did retain his core coters – small business, middle class, anti-establishment voters

Challenge for Trump – is mobilizing anti-establishment voters. Trump lacks on this front and relies too much on his persona and name publicity

Drawing parallels between presidential race and Brexit voting – voting for Trump is slightly racist so people are not willing to talk about it in public. This is similar to the voter psyche seen ahead of Brexit referendum.