Hillary Clinton’s 3 debate performances left the Trump campaign in ruins
Vox
The third and final presidential debate has ended, and it can now be said: Hillary Clinton crushed Donald Trump in the most effective series of debate performances in modern political history.
The polling tells the story. As Nate Silver notes, on the eve of the first presidential debate, Clinton led by 1.5 points. Before the second, she was up by 5.6 points. Before the third, she was winning by 7.1 points. And now, writing after the third debate a debate in which Trump said he would keep the nation in suspense about whether there would be a peaceful transition of power, bragged about not apologizing to his wife, and called Clinton such a nasty woman its clear that Trump did himself no favors. Early polls also suggest Clinton won.
And its not just the presidential race. Betting markets now predict Democrats will win the Senate. Polls have started showing Democrats in striking distance of the House. The GOP has collapsed into a mid-election civil war, with the partys presidential nominee openly battling the speaker of the House.
This is not normal. As Andrew Prokop concluded in his review of the political science evidence around presidential debates, Theres little historical evidence that theyve ever swung polls by more than a few percentage points. In this case, they did. And its because Clinton executed a risky strategy flawlessly.