#TrumpWon! Look at all them polls!
The hashtag #TrumpWon was trending on Twitter after the first presidential debate, as people rounded up online polls after the debate and insisted that they thought Donald Trump won too.
However, many others used the hashtag to troll Trump and mock him, insisting that Clinton won and the hashtag was meant as a joke – against Trump.
As Fox News put it, though, “If polls only included media pundits, Hillary Clinton would have won Monday’s debate by a landslide, but online surveys had Donald Trump” as the huge winner. Among the online polls Trump won: The Drudge Report poll (80 percent favored Trump out of more than 1.3 million votes), Time (he was up by 4 points), CNBC, Fox News, and Breitbart, according to Fox. (Heavy’s online poll also had Trump winning with 72 percent of respondents; see it here.) These post-debate online polls are non-scientific. However, they stood in sharp contrast to on-air pundits extolling the performance of Clinton.
Even the Republican nominee took note of it, though:
Indeed, people used the hashtag to argue that Trump had won the debate, which took place September 26 at Hofstra University in New York. In contrast, betting markets said Clinton won.
Don’t drink the Killary kool-aid! She may have looked like the kool-aid man last night but don’t buy her bs or her book! Lol. #trumpwon
Supporters touted a slew of online polls showing that Trump won, in contrast to the views expressed on television networks on Monday night.
All but @CNN poll shows that #TrumpWon last night’s debate. I expected so much more from @LesterHoltNBC as moderator.
However, people were using the #TrumpWon hashtag for mixed purposes. Some people used it to say that Trump, actually, lost. Many of them, really.
If you honestly think #TrumpWon that debate…
Please! He stood up there like a sniffling, parched, face making, interrupting, nut job. Everyone with any sense knows he lost #TrumpWon
When republicans realize #TrumpWon was just made up to mock them…
#TrumpWon the worst debate performance award. Ever. And he did it by being himself. SAD
“#TrumpWon the debate!” says people who think the South won the Civil War.
That #TrumpWon hashtag tho
#TrumpWon is trending? Did I watch something different last night?
Although Trump was widely mocked on Twitter for his sniffling and interrupting during the debate, people using the #TrumpWon hashtag didn’t like Hillary Clinton’s tone. Some of them accused Clinton of lying.
a career politician with no experience in business is not going to help, What good is a college ed if the jobs are all overseas?
#TrumpWon
The first presidential debate was full of fireworks as both candidates attacked the other’s record and temperament. Trump adopted a more aggressive tone and posture, especially in the first part of the debate. Many using the #TrumpWon hashtag said they were upset with “big media” networks for indicating that Clinton had won through immediate polling and punditry. Some people on Twitter using the hashtag think the moderator was unfairly slanted toward Clinton.
In fact, bashing the media and moderator Lester Holt was a common theme.
I left the debate clearly thinking @realDonaldTrump won then the media onslaught begins & I second guess. See the power they hold! #TrumpWon
Of course, in actual scientific polling, the race has narrowed to a dead heat, and it will take a few days to see whether the debate shifts those polls at all. The race has also narrowed to a virtual tie in some battleground states, like Pennsylvania, heightening the stakes for the debate.