30 percent in new poll say debate will help decide their vote

A new survey found 3 in 10 registered voters said Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump will help determine their vote, underscoring how high the stakes are for the first, and possibly only, debate between the candidates.

The NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, released Tuesday, found 30 percent of registered voters said the debate will help them a great deal or good amount in making their selection for president. Roughly 69 percent said they do not think the event will help them very much or at all with their decision in November.

Pollsters found 70 percent of Americans are planning to watch the debate, while an additional 23 percent said they will not watch but will closely monitor news coverage of the forum.

Plans to watch the debate were similar across party lines. According to the survey, 72 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of independents said they will watch most or all of the debate.

Harris and Trump will square off on the debate stage Tuesday night in Philadelphia. The debate, hosted and moderated by ABC News, begins at 9 p.m. EDT and will run for about 90 minutes.

The race remains tight between the two candidates. The latest poll showed the vice president with a national lead over Trump of 49 percent to 48 percent. Of this group, 1 percent chose another candidate, and another 1 percent were undecided.

Of those who said they definitely plan to vote in the election, now less than two months away, Harris leads the former president 51 percent to 48 percent, pollsters found.

A polling index by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows Harris with a 49.4 percent to 48.2 percent lead over the former president. Surveys from critical swing states also show a close race between them.

The NPR/PBS News/Marist poll was conducted among 1,529 U.S. adults Sept. 3-5. The margin of error for the overall sample is 3.2 percentage points.