Poll: Voters Have High Expectations for Warren in Debate

(CN) – Voters have the highest expectations for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s debate performance on Tuesday night, according to a new poll.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday shows that 21% of Democratic primary voters anticipate the Massachusetts Senator will give the best performance during tonight’s CNN Democratic debate. This represents a noticeable bump for Warren’s debate expectations from September, when only 19% expected her to be the foremost debate performer.

Voters also have high expectations for former Vice President Joe Biden, with a quarter of voters believing he will outperform his Democratic rivals.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders rounds out the top three candidates with 12% of voters believing he will turn in the best performance.

The poll indicates, however, that excitement is starting to wane for these presidential debates. While 72% of Democratic voters say they are enthusiastic to watch tonight’s debate, this is down from the 79% of voters who were excited for September’s debate.

Tyler Sinclair, vice president of Morning Consult, says this is a sign that fatigue has started to take hold for some voters.

“As the first primaries and caucuses approach, our polling suggests that debate fatigue has started to set in among Democratic primary voters," Sinclair said in a statement.

Despite their fatigue, 85% of voters still believe the debates are necessary for the election process.

Voters are also becoming increasingly concerned with the size of the debates. The poll shows that 63% of Democratic voters believe the debate stage is overcrowded.

With a dozen candidates participating in Tuesday’s debate, up from the 10 that participated in September’s debate, it will be the largest televised presidential debate in history.

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