Who won the first debate?

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

Trump got demolished.

If you think he won, lay off the alcohol. Shrooms

[MasterJedi]

Clinton slayed it, she can gain 1-2% out of that and use the momentum for the last month and a bit of the election.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Clinton curb-stomped. Trump's good moments were utterly over-shadowed.

[Dr. Arch]

Clinton slayed it, she can gain 1-2% out of that and use the momentum for the last month and a bit of the election.

[ProudModerate2]

trump shot himself in the foot when he said he was "smart" to not pay any taxes (or extremely low taxes).
trump is happy to fly in his own plane and have mansions, while the rest of us pay taxes to support the nation and its budget.
What a disgusting orange-haired clown !

[Vosem]

After the way Hillary demolished him, I think Trump has more penetrable holes than she does at this point

[Maxwell]

I think it went better than I expected, but a bit worse than I hoped. Trump re-upped his primary performances with a bit more detailed and aimed at attacking Hillary Clinton. Truthfully, I have no idea how this will play with the rest of America. Hillary had a lot of good parts to her performances, and some bad parts to her performances.

On substance, I think Hillary won handily even as Trump attempted to get more detailed. On surface, I think Trump had moments where his aggressiveness was a benefit, but there were points where he came off as an abusive spouse, which is not a good luck. I think he may have engendered some sympathy for Hillary Clinton among suburban white women, a group he needs to win desperately.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

This is what happens when you don't do any prep for a debate.

[Ronnie]

What a beautiful evening.  Hillary's wonderful performance has sealed away any lingering doubt I've had in my mind about her winning.

I don't think Trump's numbers will collapse or anything, though.

[Spark]

This is what happens when you don't do any prep for a debate.

Haha Trump. I don't think that tone will resonate with the undecideds. But he is trying to tap into the anger again like into the primaries.

[Dereich]

As someone admittedly anti-Trump but not quite pro-Clinton I think she won. It wasn't The Greatest Debate of All Time or anything, but she exceeded expectations and shouldn't fall in the polls from this or anything. It won't decisively put Trump away but won't gain him anything either. Anyone who thinks this is the end is a straight-up hack.

[Likely Voter]

FWIW PredictIt has Trump Down/Clinton up about 7 cents since the start of the debate.

[Fusionmunster]

Im sorry but that might have been the worst debate performance in modern history.

[PeteB]

Hillary won big time. Trump showed his usual petty ignorant self.

Having said that, she did not impress me at all. She is just lucky she is running against a doofus.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

This is what happens when you don't do any prep for a debate.

Haha Trump. I don't think that tone will resonate with the undecideds. But he is trying to tap into the anger again like into the primaries.

Thinking the primary strategy is enough... whoops.

[Maxwell]

As someone admittedly anti-Trump but not quite pro-Clinton I think she won. It wasn't The Greatest Debate of All Time or anything, but she exceeded expectations and shouldn't fall in the polls from this or anything. It won't decisively put Trump away but won't gain him anything either. Anyone who thinks this is the end is a straight-up hack.

I agree 100% with this assessment. Trump can still recover by allowing his people to actually prep him next time.

Hillary actually delivered a really killer line:

Yes Donald I did prepare for this debate, and I also prepared to be President.

[AGA]

Trump did well at the beginning when discussing trade, but everything went downhill from there for him. His answers were not very coherent and did not response to Clinton's attacks effectively. Clinton won the debate.

[JerryArkansas]

The person who didn't defend calling women pigs.

[Bojack Horseman]

Clinton absolutely steamrolled Trump. I didn't think he was going to fail that spectacularly tonight.

[Flake]

Clinton won by an overwhelming margin and Trump appeared unpresidential.

[Gass3268]

Clinton won. Trump won lose any support, but I think this will energize Democrats and push some undecideds to her. If I had to guess, Clinton will be up by about 3-5 points on average.

[RI]

No real movement one way or the other.

[muon2]

My initial reaction, cross-posted from the debate thread.

Trump was incoherent for the entire 90 minutes, very good contrast for Hillary. The stamima comeback was pure gold.

RIP Trump 2016

I don't think he was incoherent the first half hour. He was making the points on trade in a way I think his campaign wanted. After that however, he lost focus and missed his points over the last 2/3 of the debate. Trump spent too much time reacting to the latest statement and not keeping up a consistent narrative.

[Hermit For Peace]

I didn't watch the debate, but it's nice to read all the comments on how well Hillary did.

I suspect that now Trump knows what to expect, maybe he'll do a better job next time. I watched a clip on CBS of a panel of average people talking about tonight, and one lady who is a teacher said that Trump just needed to answer the question, then stop talking. But what he did was go all over the place and bring the conversation back to himself.

Sounds like Trump to me.

[riceowl]

Clinton clearly won, but it went as expected. No Trump supporter will start supporting Clinton, no Clinton supporter will start supporting Trump.

Trump had some shockers that the Clinton campaign can work with (taxes, flirtations with the truth). I gritted my teeth a bit in Clinton's answers for trade and was preparing to grit for the emails...but she moved him off that topic effectively.

I don't know. I think the election is clear, I think the debate makes the choice very clear, but I also think that a lot of the voters just don't really seem to care about reality.

Oh yeah, this also means she has to really rock the next two debates. Expectation game couldn't be lower for him now.