CNN snap poll: Clinton won second debate

Hillary Clinton won the second presidential debate, according to CNN/ORC’s post-debate poll, though respondents agreed that Donald Trump outperformed expectations.

Fifty-seven percent of debate-watchers in the poll said Clinton won, compared with 34 percent who said Trump did.

But 63 percent believed Trump did better than they expected, compared to a full 60 percent that thought Clinton either did worse than expected or did not outperform expectations.

{mosads}It’s a win for Clinton, but not as large as her margin in the first debate. Clinton won that debate by a margin of 62 to 27 percent in the CNN/ORC poll.

Sunday’s debate in St. Louis is likely a pivotal point in the 2016 race, as Trump seeks to recover from a damaging leaked video where he boasts about groping women. The video, released late Friday, sparked calls from many prominent Republicans for him to drop out of the race.

Trump said during the debate that those comments did not reflect his views on women, but 59 percent of debate-watchers said they believed those comments do reflect his character.

Fifty-eight percent, though, said the comments did not change how they view Trump.

The CNN/ORC poll follows scientific polling methods, but surveys debate watchers, a subset the network says skewed slightly Democratic.

After the first debate, Trump cited online polls on websites including The Drudge Report that showed him winning. But critics questioned those online polls, noting that they allow website visitors to vote multiple times.

This story was updated at 12:14 a.m.