Who won the second US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden?

US President Donald Trump (left) and Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden faced off in the second and final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Picture: AFP

The second and final US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has been completed and our experts have delivered their verdicts. Here’s what they had to say. Recap the debate in our live coverage.

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Paul Kelly

Joe Biden won on the issues; Donald Trump won on the optics.

Biden was better prepared than Trump, landed far more devastating lines and had the better of the debate. Biden was more than competitive in a contest revealing the stark differences between the candidates.

Paul Kelly.

But Biden looked older with a touch of fragility and occasional confusion. He projected as an elderly citizen talking tough and keen to project strength. Trump came across as more energetic and younger than the years between them.

This time Trump came to debate not harass — his tone was more reasoned and disciplined than usual and his performance far superior to the first debate.

But Trump cannot escape his critical handicap — campaigning as an incumbent he was on the defensive too often over the coronavirus, national security, foreign interference, health and racism.

Trump cannot generate the power of his assault in 2016 as an outsider. As president he carries too much baggage.

In the end Biden had a stronger, clearer message. He said the election would test the American character — Biden’s narrative was “hope over fear” — seeking the restoration of decency, honour and respect.

Biden nailed Trump on issue after issue: the coronavirus threatened a “dark winter,” decent health care was a right not a privilege, Trump’s constant refusal to release his tax returns meant he had something to hide and Biden was aggressive in attacking Trump for his racist tactics.

Biden’s defense was sound. He defected Trump on accusations of corruption. His counter punching was superior. Trump failed to run hard on the economy and failed to brand Biden as a dangerous left-winger.

Trump might improve his relative position in this debate but Biden, if the polls are accurate, will remain the frontrunner.

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Greg Sheridan

This was an infinitely better presidential debate than the first.

Donald Trump showed that there is a strong policy case for his presidency. Joe Biden, however, also performed pretty well.

Greg Sheridan.

He did say one or two characteristically weird things — calling the infamous Proud Boys the Poor Boys, suggesting mystifyingly that the US had an excellent relationship with Adolf Hitler before he started invading other countries.

But overall Biden’s several days or rest and preparation paid off. He certainly didn’t say anything so strange that it would raise serious questions about his fitness to be president.

Trump was uncharacteristically disciplined, and it worked.

His natural style is free flowing and ad lib and often pretty colourful, sometimes downright nastily abusive.

He showed in this debate what might have been. His chief policy weakness is that he is seen to have managed COVID-19 poorly. In truth the US results are comparable with Europe’s, though certainly Trump could have done more.

If Trump finally loses on November 3, it will be because of COVID-19.

But Trump certainly delivered some serious blows to Biden: you’ve been a professional politician for 47 years and you’ve achieved almost nothing.

He also forced Biden to confirm that he plans to end the US oil industry.

“Remember that Texas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma,” Trump said.

Trump also forced the debate moderator to take up the issue of the explosive emails concerning Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and the huge amounts of money he made in Ukraine and China when his dad was vice president, and seemingly because his business interlocutors wanted to curry favour with Biden snr.

Biden for his part also made substantial points. Trump wants to abolish Obamacare but still hasn’t put forward a comprehensive health care plan.

And of course he had powerful points to make on COVID-19.

I thought the debate nearly a draw, with perhaps the narrowest of points wins to Trump.

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Troy Bramston

With 50 million Americans having already voted and most of those remaining having made up their minds, this debate was Donald Trump’s last best chance to turn his campaign around. He blew it.

Troy Bramston.

Trump was typically boastful, belligerent and bullying. The biggest issue is COVID-19 yet Trump was unable to defend his record on the pandemic. Joe Biden skewered Trump for saying Americans have to learn to live with the virus when they are actually dying with it. Trump’s strongest moment was on law reform.

Biden had to demonstrate he is ready to be president. He needed to be focused, relaxed and competent. Biden achieved this with his sharpest election performance yet. It was surprising. He was effective on a range of issues, especially healthcare.

There were a lot of crazy claims about donations, foreign influence and tax returns. Biden kept his cool and said the election was not about their families but about American families. Biden got under Trump’s skin.

This election is Biden’s to lose. He is ahead in national and state polls. Biden has made strong inroads into Trump’s base of support. Trump reinforced why he is losing the election and therefore, lost the debate.

Biden, as I’ve said in the past, is clearly missing a few steps. But not in this debate. Biden is sharp, focused and on point. Trump is flailing - badly. #Election2020 #Debates2020

— Troy Bramston (@TroyBramston) October 23, 2020

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Peter van Onselen

Joe Biden was unsteady with his rhetoric and overly dependent on notes during the debate, but he nonetheless got through the 90 minutes largely unscathed. He did warm up as the debate went on.

Peter van Onselen.

Donald Trump needed a knockout to overcome his deficit in the polls (assuming they are accurate). That certainly did not happen. Especially when you consider that nearly 50 million voters have already cast their ballots.

Perhaps surprisingly the first topic, the pandemic, did not see Trump fall onto the back foot as much as he could have. That was a missed opportunity for Biden.

Trump’s comments would largely fail the most basic fact checking test, however his approach was more presidential than he has been all campaign. The calm demeanour was a sure sign he’s trying to appeal to women and older voters who by all indications have switched off from the more outlandish commentary coming from their President.

Biden’s strongest moment in the debate was when he pressed Trump about his taxes and business dealings. Trump tried to put the heat on Biden, but the attempted slur fired the former Vice President up for one of the only times in the debate.

The winner was Biden, simply because he didn’t lose big enough for this debate to alter the course of the campaign.

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Caroline Overington

There will be much debate about who won the debate, but Donald Trump should go down as the loser, because he lied to the American people.

That should be an automatic disqualification.

Caroline Overington.

Trump told the American people that a vaccine for COVID-19 was “ready”.

It is not ready.

He said it would appear on the horizon by the end of the year, which it won’t, and can’t possibly.

It couldn’t be tested in time.

He tried soon after to backtrack, saying “it’s not guaranteed”.

He then couldn’t say who exactly would make the vaccine, listing a range of companies that don’t themselves claim to have a vaccine that is “ready”.

Trump then said it was relying on the military to get the vaccine out in time, saying: “We have our generals lined up.”

This was a complete fantasy.

Trump was right when he said most people recover from COVID-19. He said: “I was in the hospital, I got it, I was in for a short period of time, I got better very quickly.”

That’s great for him. But that’s not the case for 220,000 Americans, who have died.

Nothing else he had to say matters as much as this. The American people deserve a president prepared to be honest with them about COVID-19, which is that it can be survived, and it must be managed, but a vaccine is a way off.

Will his lie — a false promise, to a suffering nation — change any votes? Maybe. But who at this point is honestly still undecided?

Trump was more disciplined than during the first debate. Biden didn’t throw abuse around, like he did first time. The moderator and the mute button made for a much more civilised affair.

But pretty much everyone knows how they’re going to vote. In fact, more than 47 million Americans have voted already.

That’s from a pool 240 million eligible voters, only 62 per cent of whom are expected to vote.

US voters know who they want. Now we wait for them to tell us.

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Cameron Stewart

This was an improved performance by Donald Trump, but the night still belonged to Joe Biden because he emerged unscathed in a debate that Trump needed to win.

Cameron Stewart.

Biden was calm and affable throughout and did not get flustered by repeated attempts by the president to turn the topic onto Biden’s alleged business links with his son Hunter.

Trump’s push to focus on claims that the Biden family was making money in Ukraine and China while he was vice president were too vague to cut through to ordinary voters.

Indeed, Biden had a solid retort by pointing out that the president was demanding information about Biden’s finances when Trump refuses to release his own tax records.

Trump looked like he was struggling with the rules not to interrupt, but this was a much improved performance from him after his terrible first debate. He made his arguments forcefully in a way that will help inform rather than repel voters.

But Trump is behind in this race. He needed a game changer in this debate and he didn’t get it. Biden has proved to be a better debater than Trump expected and as a result Biden has moved another step closer to the White House.

Read more from Cameron Stewart here.