24 October 2020
This is one of the bigger signs of trouble for President Trump that we've seen in a poll: Of the final debate's seven topics, Joe Biden won or tied on all seven when viewers in a massive Axios-SurveyMonkey sample were asked who they trusted more to handle the issue.
Why it matters: In a time of unprecedented colliding crises for the nation, the polling considered Biden to be vastly more competent.
In the SurveyMonkey poll for Axios that included 2,322 U.S. adults who watched the debate or followed coverage of it, viewers expressed a clear preference for Biden on the environment (by 19 points) ... issues of special concern to women (18 points) ... the coronavirus (12 points) ... ethics in government (11 points) ... issues of special concern to Black Americans (7 points).
- Biden won by 1 point on foreign policy. Trump won by 2 points on crime and safety — statistical ties in the poll, which had a 3-point margin of error.
How Democratic debate viewers saw Biden's performance:
Graphic: SurveyMonkey for Axios
How Republican debate viewers saw Trump's performance:
Graphic: SurveyMonkey for Axios
How viewers saw the debate overall:
Graphic: SurveyMonkey for Axios
Go deeper ... Axios-SurveyMonkey poll: Trump improves, but not enough
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.