Fox News Anchor Reports Poll Shows Oz Debate Didn’t Sink Fetterman: ‘Numbers Barely Budged’

Fox News declared the debate between Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz had “little impact” despite the fact that Fetterman, still recovering from a stroke, was heavily criticized in the media for his performance.

Fetterman’s campaign had attempted to temper expectations ahead of the event. Closed captioning was provided for Fetterman at the debate, as has been done for him in multiple media interviews.

The New York Times noted the Democrat was “showing stroke effects” and he struggled verbally at times in the debate. CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner criticized the Fetterman campaign for being “opaque” about the “severity” of the effects of the stroke. Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld blasted his debate performance as a “bomb,” Steve Bannon called Fetterman a “cyborg,” and even Saturday Night Live took a swipe at him.

Voters don’t appear as concerned as some of Fetterman’s critics though, as a Monmouth University poll showed the Fetterman’s support remaining at 48 percent after the debate. In the same polling sampling, Oz received only a slight one-point boost, from 43 percent to 44 percent.

Fox News host Martha MacCallum reported the numbers hardly moved despite Fetterman’s struggles.

“It’s really interesting because after the debate, the numbers barely budged,” she said.

The host played a clip of the Democrat fumbling a question from CNN’s Don Lemon on tackling inflation.

Fox News contributor Joe Concha called the clip “impossible to decipher,” but noted Fetterman was blaming inflation on years-old tax cuts from former President Donald Trump.

“So if we look at his perspective on policy alone, it doesn’t inspire much confidence,” Concha said.

Fetterman’s campaign attempted to seemingly lower expectations ahead of the debate, releasing a statement pointing out Oz’s “huge built-in advantage” as a former television host and warning viewers to expect pauses and errors on Fetterman’s part as he continues his recovery.

A campaign spokesperson for Fetterman claimed after the debate that the closed captioning system was filled with “errors,” something Nexstar, the parent company of debate host network NewsNation, denied.

“The closed captioning process functioned as expected during rehearsal and again during tonight’s debate. We regret that Mr. Fetterman and his campaign feel otherwise,” the company said in a statement.

Watch above via Fox News