Republicans more likely than Democrats to say they'll watch debate: Survey

Republicans are more likely to say that they’ll watch the presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump Thursday, according to a new survey.

The Syracuse University/Ipsos poll, released this week, found 45 percent of Republican respondents said they were “very likely” to watch the televised debate between the two perspective party nominees. Among Democrats, 30 percent said they would be “very likely” to watch the debate.

Overall, 61 percent of Americans said they would be “very likely” or "somewhat likely" to watch the debate, per the survey.

Biden and Trump are set to face off Thursday night in the first presidential debate this cycle, hosted by CNN and moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. It is the first time the two will be face-to-face since the 2020 election.

The former president faced criticism for his performance in a debate against Biden four years ago and admitted to interrupting Biden “too much," at the time, which The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman noted last week.

“He has said to people multiple times that he knows that he interrupted too much in the first debate with Biden in 2020, and having just rewatched that debate recently, it’s really striking,” Haberman said, adding, “I mean, we all talked about it at the time, but Biden could barely get a word in edgewise, and Biden was kind of smiling throughout as this was happening."

Asked about the state of democracy in the country and which of the candidates were a bigger threat, respondents were more likely to say Trump over Biden — 49 percent to 34 percent. However, that number was largely influenced by party line.

Republicans were more likely to say Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than the former president, and vice versa, according to the survey. Independent respondents also chose Trump over the incumbent as a bigger threat — 52 percent to 32 percent.

Less than half of respondents, 47 percent, also said the country “will survive no matter who is elected." But, according to the poll, they acknowledged that the "reputation and economy" could take a hit if the wrong leaders are elected.

Broken down by party, 59 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Democrats said the statement was closer to their opinion, the survey found.

CNN's presidential debate — which will be simulcast by other major networks including ABC News, NBC News and CBS News, among others — will take place in Atlanta at 9 p.m. EDT.

Another poll, released earlier this week by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, found that 64 percent of respondents said they would tune in to the debate, at least for part of it.

The Syracuse University/Ipsos poll was conducted between May 17-19, with a sample of 1,017 adults and a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.