NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Donald Trump or Joe Biden: Who won the final presidential debate?

By Frank Chung
news.com.au·
23 Oct, 2020 03:38 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The highlights from Donald Trump and Joe Biden's final Presidential debate. Video / AP

The final debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has wrapped up.

The Republican President and his Democratic rival went head to head for last time before Americans go to the polls on November 3.

The Thursday night debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee was far more orderly than the chaotic first outing last month.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the second and final presidential debate. Photo / AP
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the second and final presidential debate. Photo / AP

While traditionally the third presidential debate has been wholly dedicated to foreign policy, the topics selected by moderator Kristen Welker were "Fighting COVID-19", "American Families", "Race in America", "Climate Change", "National Security" and "Leadership".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Trump had vowed to go off script and hammer Biden over revelations about his son Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings. While the issue did come up, there was less focus on it than some had expected.

In attendance as a special guest of the President was Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter who this week released a bombshell statement implicating the former Vice President in his son's foreign deals.

Here's what the experts and pundits are saying about the debate.

Fox News host Chris Wallace, who moderated the first debate, said he was "jealous" and "would have liked to moderate that debate".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I thought it was a good debate with two competing visions," he said.

"I thought Biden had many more specific plans, whether it came to dealing with Covid, climate change, healthcare. I thought the President's presentation was more fluid, there were clearly times when Joe Biden seemed to falter a little bit in making his point or finishing his sentence."

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University. Photo / AP
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University. Photo / AP

Wallace said the topics "played more to Biden's advantage" and often put Trump on defence.

He said he was "struck" by Biden's response to the questions about his son, saying he was "very successful in countering it" by immediately attacking Trump on his Chinese bank account and failure to turn over his tax returns.

Discover more

World

Final Trump-Biden debate marked by clashes, but less chaos

23 Oct 02:47 AM
World

Final debate - Trump says he's 'least racist person', claims Covid 'going away'

23 Oct 02:48 AM
World

Trump and Biden's final debate: What to watch for

22 Oct 08:06 PM
Lifestyle

Where has Melania Trump been during the election campaign?

22 Oct 08:13 PM

"In terms of key moments, the President talked a lot about, 'You've had all these years in Washington, you're all talk no action,'" Wallace said.

Trump speaks during the second and final presidential debate. Photo / AP
Trump speaks during the second and final presidential debate. Photo / AP
Biden speaks during the second and final presidential debate. Photo / AP
Biden speaks during the second and final presidential debate. Photo / AP
Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News looks at papers as President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the final debate. Photo / AP
Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News looks at papers as President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden participate in the final debate. Photo / AP

Wallace said Biden's strongest moment was hitting back at Trump's claim that he was the "least racist person in the room" who had done more for black Americans than any President since Abraham Lincoln.

Donna Brazile, former interim head of the Democratic National Committee and now Fox News commentator, conceded that "this was not the Twitter Donald Trump, okay, amen".

"The tone was different but it was still the Donald Trump that refuses to release his taxes, once again claiming he has an audit – what are you hiding?" she said.

"The second thing is he said he had a healthcare plan. Well, where is it? It's been 10 years. I think the most important thing Joe Biden said was 'I (couldn't) get it through Congress' – well, that's gridlock, whether you're a Republican or Democratic President, the American people are tired of gridlock."

Conservative commentator Brit Hume said Trump "gave his best debate performance perhaps ever, but I thought the Vice President fought him to at least a draw".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Trump was most effective when he was demanding why Biden hadn't done all the great things he was promising to do," he said.

"Biden held up well, I think he did falter at times, but he didn't have a really bad moment."

Biden arrives with his sister Valerie Biden, second from left, to board his campaign plane at Nashville International Airport. Photo / AP
Biden arrives with his sister Valerie Biden, second from left, to board his campaign plane at Nashville International Airport. Photo / AP

CNN host Jake Tapper mocked Trump's racism claim, saying he was "pretty sure Kristen Welker is less racist than Donald Trump".

Tapper argued Trump didn't speak enough about the economy and instead was "off in Breitbart land talking about laptops".

CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip said there was a "key moment that really encapsulates" that Trump doesn't understand how to talk about the coronavirus pandemic.

"He kept repeating that we're 'learning to live with it'," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"And Joe Biden came back and said, 'Actually we're dying with it.' I think that was the key moment. The President only wants to focus on reopening, he doesn't want to acknowledge the sacrifices Americans have made."

Rick Santorum, a former Republican politician and now CNN commentator, argued Trump "completely skewered Joe Biden".

"You guys watched a very different debate, I think Trump was right on his game, I think he completely skewered Joe Biden," he said. "Here Biden is, just looking in the camera, being a typical politician."

Former Obama administration official Van Jones said Trump "did his best ever and his best was not good enough".

Trump gestures to supporters before boarding Air Force One at Nashville International Airport after participating in the presidential debate. Photo / AP
Trump gestures to supporters before boarding Air Force One at Nashville International Airport after participating in the presidential debate. Photo / AP

"It was the same stuff, just a little bit less volume on it, but no plan for the future," he said.

"A big apology for a bunch of failures and then smacking Joe Biden all the time. He sounded better, he looked better, but there was nothing there."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Jones said Trump "needed two things tonight", neither of which happened.

"Trump needed to not come across like a deranged madman, and he needed Joe Biden to completely bomb," he said.

Republican Senator Lindsay Graham said he had "never felt better about President Trump being re-elected than I do now".

"The President soared tonight, Biden struggled," he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.

"The stunning news to me tonight is Vice President Biden is going to destroy the oil and gas industry in the United States, that came out of his own mouth."

Hannity said Trump had "called out the left on lie after lie after lie".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'BIG WIN': Court backs Trump in National Guard control over LA

20 Jun 04:52 AM
World

Man accused of stalking Memphis mayor

20 Jun 03:54 AM
World

'Wake-up call': 41,000 violations against children in conflict zones

20 Jun 03:39 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'BIG WIN': Court backs Trump in National Guard control over LA

'BIG WIN': Court backs Trump in National Guard control over LA

20 Jun 04:52 AM

Trump sent 4000 National Guard troops to LA for 60 days.

Man accused of stalking Memphis mayor

Man accused of stalking Memphis mayor

20 Jun 03:54 AM
'Wake-up call': 41,000 violations against children in conflict zones

'Wake-up call': 41,000 violations against children in conflict zones

20 Jun 03:39 AM
Premium
'Can't assume it's harmless': Experts warn on marijuana's heart risks

'Can't assume it's harmless': Experts warn on marijuana's heart risks

20 Jun 03:20 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP