27 Percent of Voters: 1 Candidate Will Probably Back Out of Debate

September 9, 2024: Twenty-seven percent (27%) of voters think one candidate will probably back out of the upcoming presidential debate at the last minute. A Napolitan News Service national survey conducted by RMG Research found that 56% think the debate will actually happen.

The survey also found that 53% of voters think the debates would be either much better (24%) or somewhat better (29%) if each candidate had nine minutes to state his or her position on an issue and respond to the other candidate’s position. Just 15% think that format would be either somewhat worse (10%) or much worse (5%), while another 15% think it would not make a difference.

Methodology

The survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on September 3-4, 2024. Fieldwork for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of registered voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Note: Scott Rasmussen is the president of RMG Research, Inc. He hosts "The Scott Rasmussen Show" on Merit Street Media Sunday mornings at 10 Eastern.

Survey Questions

Do you think the debate will actually happen, or is one side likely to back out at the last minute?

• 56%-The debate will happen
• 27%-One side will probably back out at the last minute
• 17%-Not sure

What if the debates were structured differently so that each candidate would have nine minutes to state their position on an issue and respond to the other candidate’s position on the issues. Would that be better or worse than the current debate structure?

• 24%-Much better
• 29%-Somewhat better
• 10%-Somewhat worse
• 5%-Much worse
• 15%-No difference
• 17%-Not sure