Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump went head to head in the second presidential debate on Sunday night, after a weekend dominated by the fallout to a video showing Trump boasting about making sexual advances toward women without their consent.
Trump went on the offensive, questioning Clinton on topics ranging from her husband’s sex life to her foreign policy judgement, while Clinton accused Trump of being in the pocket of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
We gathered a selection of our readers’ views on how the debate unfolded - and which of the candidates emerged as the winner.
Trump didn’t keel over
Trump was a pro wrestler meets Mussolini
I can't work out if Trump prepared for the debate by watching pro wrestlers give interviews, or by digging up old newsreel footage of Mussolini? It was certainly obvious, that he didn't spend the time absorbing policy detail.
Clinton’s strategy was unspectacular, but wise
It does seem as though Clinton's debate strategy, while unspectacular, is wise: Just let Donald be Donald as he continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into a pit. While his followers will cheer his standard (and outrageous) talking points, while claiming he "won" the debate, all he really did is appeal to his already solid base of about 40%. He added nothing new to persuade moderates. Nor to stem the tide of Republicans abandoning his sinking ship. Shoveling more coals to Newcastle is simply not a winning strategy for Trump. And with Clinton allowing him to continue to bumble away, she's slowly chipping away at the undecideds who see her as more stable, safe, and presidential.
Trump should return to the Apprentice
Donald Trump clearly demonstrated tonight with both words and body language , that he is a rude, crude, fatuous, vacuous,panting, ranting, shallow, bellowing maniac.
Having said the above , my view is that he would be a most fascinating host and should return to the Apprentice show instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I sincerely believe that God will bless and save America from this delusional, egomaniac, sociopath and from the hateful, racist, deplorable nihilists.
Trump was disgusting
Hillary Clinton played this debate perfectly. She stayed on point, didn't make it personal - stuck to the facts as they've been played out, and didn't get flustered. Trump meanwhile was his disgusting, rude, crass, baseless, lying self. Lurching alarmingly from one bout of verbal diarrea to the next, he stumbled, obfuscated, ignored viewer questions and tried to do his usual handy work with smoke and mirrors. He played to his existing supporters, but I'd be doubtful if any undecided voters would choose him based on that performance and his sexual 'locker room' bullshit. I've been in plenty of locker rooms, and we never talk about assulting women. It's offensive to sportsmen around the world who work hard to break down the stereotypes around 'locker rooms'. He's a disgusting individual.
Clinton looked flustered
I agree about Trump, but Hillary looked flustered to me. She repeated herself. Her jokes fell flat. She resorted to lines that worked for her last time. She failed to control Trump. Last time, she was like a lion trainer leading a little cub in a merry dance. This time, the lion was out of control and she knew it.
This performance confirmed my worst fears about Trump and what a disastrous president he would be, but Clinton did not play it perfectly.
Trump is ignorant of the constitution
It appeals to his supporters, but Trump shows again his ignorance of the constitution in his belief that the US president can lock up who he likes. He also shows more ignorance when he disrespectfully attempts to tar a wife with her husband's wrongs - more worrying because of his protests about respecting women. Trump knows nothing - he's clearly not fit to be president, but there's a lot of people who never pick up a newspaper and only trust those they like on TV.
The bar was so low for Trump it can be spun as a win
DT cleared the abysmally low bar, barely, so it will be spun as a "win" for him. The fact that he doesn't seem to have the slightest idea what he's talking about when it comes to virtually every substantive issue will once again be swept aside. His entire performance was an exercise in obfuscation. I still couldn't pin him down on a single policy position. "We're going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something so terrific" doesn't count.
A shambolic debate
This was a sad, shambolic debate. Clinton was fluent and composed, although she clearly still struggles to come up with a good response to Trump's attacks on her over her emails and position on trade (probably because in the case of the former, she screwed up and in the case of the latter, her 'evolution' makes her look evasive). Trump was a rambling, lying, nasty mess, who looked tired and dejected for much of the first half of the debate.
Polls for CNN and YouGov seem to suggest Clinton won, whilst in focus group terms, the Luntz focus group favoured Trump, but the CNN focus group favoured Clinton. For Clinton that's good enough. Trump did poorly and failed to close the gap on her, but he did well enough to avoid imploding, which means he's still in the race and capable of damaging the Republican Party.
Clinton’s performance was worthy of respect
Today I have more respect for Clinton, having kept her composure, shown intelligence and reasoning through out with such a bully attacking her at every turn. Anyone who could have stood up to that excuse for a human last night with his deplorable manner, deserves to be President of the US.
Trump won the debate because the expectations for him were so low to begin with, that some people thought that he would just keel over. All told, he handled it as best as he could given the circumstances. It still doesn't mean he ought to be the president though.