Respondents who took the Delano/Paperjam poll overwhelmingly want Joseph Biden to become the 46th US President  Shutterstock

Respondents who took the Delano/Paperjam poll overwhelmingly want Joseph Biden to become the 46th US President  Shutterstock

The US election debate took place on 21 October at the Welkin and Meraki coworking space with guest of honour US Ambassador to Luxembourg Randy Evans. The event saw James O’Neal and William Abundes, chair and vice-chair respectively of Republicans Overseas Luxembourg, battle out the stakes with Democrats Abroad Luxembourg chair Natalie Bachiri and long-time expat and Florida voter Amanda Surbey.

The video replay, available here, was accompanied by a poll (now closed) in which readers could select the winning team, the candidate they would vote for and let us know how the current US administration is doing on five key issues.

The winning debate team

When asked to select which team won the debate, readers had the option to pick Republicans, Democrats, both or neither. Readers selected the Democrats (61%), while the Republicans picked up 25% of the votes. 7% of respondents selected both, while another 7% selected neither.

Who should be elected president?

The margin was not as narrow on who should be voted into office for the next term, however, with an overwhelming majority (89%) preferring Joseph Biden over incumbent Donald J. Trump. Respondents had the option of selecting another candidate, although no one picked this option.

Key issues

Although 10 topics were up for debate on 21 October, the poll asked respondents to determine how the current US administration is doing on five key issues, including US domestic policy, foreign policy, covid-19, race issues and gun control.

Those polled were asked to select on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “doing badly” and 5 “doing great”.

Although some respondents selected 5 on some individual categories, the average ranking per issue did not exceed 2.4. The best ranked issue was the US domestic economy (2.4 average), followed by foreign policy (1.6), gun control (1.4).

Race issues and covid-19 fared worst, tying at 1.2 each on average.

Although the official US election day is 3 November, this year has seen an unprecedented number of Americans voting early or absentee. However, many states will not have final results in by election night, with some key battleground states (e.g., Michigan, Pennsylvania) reporting that counting the votes could take at least three days.