Frank Luntz declares final debate a ‘tie’ — that bodes well for Biden

Pollster and political operative Frank Luntz said the second and final presidential debate was “essentially a tie,” meaning Democratic nominee Joe Biden may be able to hold onto his lead in the polls.

Luntz said the focus group he ran during the debate thought President Trump was able to stay relatively collected, and Biden was able to attack Trump on his weaknesses but did not do as well in explaining his plans for the country.

“Donald Trump was very different than anything that they were expecting,” Luntz told Bloomberg. “He was calm, and he was measured. He wasn’t insulting, and they were impressed, but as the debate went on clearly, Trump got agitated, he got frustrated, and he started to revert back to the Trump they were expecting. … They felt that Joe Biden was very good at prosecuting Donald Trump, but not good enough at explaining exactly what he’s going to do, so the net of all this is essentially a tie.”

Such a draw, Luntz said, will play to Biden’s advantage because he expects there will be no significant change in the ballots or polling data. Biden currently leads Trump in national and state polls with less than two weeks until Election Day.

Luntz’s conclusion was far different from his assessment of the first debate, which was chaotic and full of interruptions by both candidates.

“The focus group told me that Chris Wallace was the winner in trying to control the two debaters,” Luntz said of the first debate. He added that they believed “America was the loser.”