According to a poll of viewers who watched the election debate on public television, the winner was Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The debate between the representatives of all the parties with a full slate of candidates in the upcoming election on Oct. 15 ran on public television on Monday evening. The ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) was represented by Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki and the largest opposition bloc, the liberal KO, by Donald Tusk.
The pundits agreed that Donald Tusk performed poorly but also that Morawiecki spent too much time engaging in barbs with the opposition leader. They also agreed that Szymon Hołownia, the former television presenter and leader of the Poland 2050 party that is part of the Third Way alliance — which also includes the centrist PSL – did surprisingly well.
According to a poll conducted for the wPolityce.pl portal by pollster Social Changes, among those who actually watched the debate, 26 percent said that Morawiecki was the winner.
Szymon Hołownia came second with 15 percent and Donald Tusk third with 14 percent. The joint leader of the right-wing Confederation party was viewed as the winner by 9 percent. Meanwhile, just 5 percent pointed to Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, who represented the Left party, as the winner.
Another 20 percent of the sample said that no one had won the debate, and 7 percent had no view on the matter.
The research showed that 55 percent of PiS supporters were convinced that Morawiecki had won the debate, whereas only 34 percent of KO supporters pointed to Tusk as the winner.
Asked to choose between just Morawiecki and Tusk as to who was better in the debate, 26 percent supported Morawiecki and 23 percent Tusk.
