A majority of U.S. voters would watch a debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, if it were moderated by podcaster, MMA commentator and comedian Joe Rogan, according to a new poll.
On Tuesday, The Hill reported the results of a new Hill-HarrisX poll of 943 registered voters who were asked during Sept. 21-22 whether they would watch a debate moderated by Rogan. Among those polled, 69 percent said they would be either very or somewhat likely to watch such a debate, while 31 said they would not watch that debate, showing more than two-to-one support for the idea.
The poll found stronger support for the debate idea among Republicans, with approximately 80 percent of Republicans supporting the idea, compared to 70 percent of Democrats who were in favor of the debate. 59 percent of independents also supported the idea. The poll also found men were 9 percentage points more likely than women to support the debate idea, with 74 percent of men in favor compared to 65 percent of women in favor.
Army Ranger and former UFC fighter Tim Kennedy tweeted the idea of a Rogan-hosted debate on Sept. 13, “On my podcast with @joerogan he offered to moderate a debate between @JoeBiden and @realDonaldTrump It would be four hours with no live audience. Just the two candidates, cameras, and their vision of how to move this country forward. Who wants this? #debates #Election2020.”
Trump replied the next day, tweeting “I do!” in support of the debate idea.
I do! https://t.co/H9Eghnqpuy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2020
The poll results came on the same day of the first presidential debate, which was moderated by Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
Following Tuesday night’s debate, Tyler Cardon, the CEO of the conservative Blaze Media, tweeted, “Regardless who you’re pulling for, I think we can all agree that Joe Rogan would do a much better job moderating this thing than Chris Wallace. #Debates2020.”
Regardless who you’re pulling for, I think we can all agree that Joe Rogan would do a much better job moderating this thing than Chris Wallace. #Debates2020
— Tyler Cardon (@TyCardon) September 30, 2020
Trump retweeted Cardon’s endorsement of a Rogan moderated debate.
Rogan, on Tuesday night, appeared to shift his own attitude toward such a debate, saying in an Instagram post, “You don’t need me to handle this “debate,” you need @johnmccarthymma,” directing attention to veteran UFC referee and Bellator MMA commentator John McCarthy.
