Poll: Majority believe Harris won VP debate against Pence

Nearly 6 in 10 voters who watched Wednesday’s vice presidential debate between Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Vice President Pence came away with the impression that Harris had outperformed Pence, according to a poll.

In the CNN/SRSS poll of registered voters who watched Wednesday’s matchup, 59 percent said that Harris had performed better onstage while 38 percent said that it was Pence who had outperformed his opponent.

Perceptions of the debate were split along gender lines, with 69 percent of female debate watchers saying they thought Harris had won, compared to 30 percent for Pence, while 48 percent of male debate watchers said that Harris had performed better, with 46 percent siding with the vice president.

Pence’s favorability among respondents, who skewed Democratic according to CNN, remained at 41 percent after the debate while Harris’s favorability rose from 56 percent to 63 percent.

While 55 percent of voters added that the outcome would likely have no effect on their vote, a majority of those who said it would have an effect reportedly indicated that the debate made them more likely to vote for former Vice President Joe Biden (D), Harris’s running mate.

The CNN/SRSS poll contacted 609 registered voters in the hours after the debate, and the margin of error is 5.3 percentage points.