Trump could have done much better. Skipping formal preparation sessions was a huge blunder; he left countless opportunities on the floor, from the Clinton Foundation to the e-mail scandal, to the Iran nuclear deal.
As I said on other threads, Cankles was betting the farm on the first debate, and she definitely stopped the bleeding. Watch the media spin and the convenient crop of post-debate polls. She didn’t score a knockout, but she scored points with certain voting blocs, and you’ll see that in the surveys that appear in the coming days.
Trump didn’t kill his campaign tonight, but he didn’t do himself any favors. If there’s a consolation, it’s this: the debate you can afford to “tube” is the first one. He will be better in the second and third debates. So will Mike Pence next week.
as 11th_VA points out though, the next debates won’t have as many watchers.