WASHINGTON _ Millennials may already match baby boomers in terms of their share of the American electorate, but a new poll reveals that only 32 percent of voters under 30 are "definitely" planning on watching the first presidential debate.
That's compared to the 59 percent of voters over 65 who say they will "definitely" watch, the poll found.
After months of campaigning, the Economist/YouGov poll revealed that American adults hold diverse opinions on whether Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or her Republican rival Donald Trump will perform better in the debate.
Seventy-two percent of likely Democratic voters think Clinton will do better whereas 58 percent of likely Republican voters think the same about Trump.
By race, 68 percent of black voters and 55 percent of Hispanic adults think Clinton will perform better in the debates.
The numbers for white voters who think Clinton will do better are lower at 32 percent, differing by only 1 point from the 33 percent who say the same for Trump.
Only 8 percent of black and 12 percent of Hispanic citizens think Trump will do better.
The poll also found that 73 percent of Democratic voters believe Trump will misstate more facts than Clinton. A much lower 45 percent of likely Republican voters believe the same about Clinton.
Trump has repeatedly said the presidential debates will be stacked against him, Reuters reported, triggering discussion over moderator behavior during the debates.
The poll revealed that just over half of likely voters said that moderators should try to correct the candidates if they say something untrue. Another 32 percent said moderators should leave it to the participants to correct each other. Still 17 percent were unsure of how the moderators should behave.
The poll surveyed 1,300 U.S. voters through web-based interviews from Sept. 18 to Sept. 19. The margin of error was 3.9 percentage points.
