--- title: Democratic Debate Poll: Who Won, Clinton or Sanders? description: A post-debate poll canonical: https://time.com/4110860/democratic-debate-poll-who-won/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-15T03:54:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:39:58.698Z article:section: Politics og:title: Vote Now: Who Won the Second Democratic Presidential Debate? og:description: Cast your vote og:url: https://time.com/4110860/democratic-debate-poll-who-won/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c71940b848644e1/698870d6cf40a8819bc40a1c/democractic-presidential-candidates-sanders-clinton-omalley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1800 og:image:height: 1013 og:image:alt: Democractic-presidential-candidates-sanders-clinton-omalley og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vote Now: Who Won the Second Democratic Presidential Debate? twitter:description: Cast your vote twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c71940b848644e1/698870d6cf40a8819bc40a1c/democractic-presidential-candidates-sanders-clinton-omalley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vote Now: Who Won the Second Democratic Presidential Debate? > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d6fe4468-1f19-407b-9656-42115b3115ef&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: CBS Democratic Debate: Sanders and Clinton on Iraq War [Watch (HLS stream): CBS Democratic Debate: Sanders and Clinton on Iraq War](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tCIZg8V8.m3u8) (3:16)  _Published 2015-11-15. CBS Democratic Debate: Sanders and Clinton on Iraq War_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 15, 2015 3:54 AM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 15, 2015 3:54 AM UTC Democrats [met for their second presidential debate Saturday](http://time.com/4112831/democratic-debate-paris-attacks-hillary-clinton/?xid=homepage), and we want to know who you think won the night. Take a moment to click the link below next to the candidate who you thought did the best at the CBS debate in Des Moines, Iowa. A disclaimer: Online reader polls like this one are not statistically representative of eligible primary voters. They are a measure, however imprecise, of which candidates have the most energized online supporters, or most social media savvy fan base. After all, what they are counting is the number of Internet-devices controlled by people who want to vote. ## Transcript But, of course international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But, let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well in fact, I would argue. That the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of Al Qaeda and to ISIS. Now in fact what we have got to do, and I think there is wide spread agreement here, is that the United States cannot do it alone. What we need to do is lead an international coalition which includes very significantly the Muslim nations in that region who are gonna have to fight and defend their way of life. Quickly, just let me ask you. To follow up on that. Senator Sanders, when you say the disaster is to vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq War. And are you making a direct link between here vote for that war and what's happening for ISIS, just so everybody [ CROSSTALK ]. Oh, I don't think any sensible person We disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the modern history of the United States. All right. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. Thank you, John. Well, I think it's important we put this in historic context. United States has unfortunately been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s it was in Beirut Lebanon under President Reagan's administration and 258 Americans, Marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya when my husband was president, again Americans murdered. And then of course 9- 11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion. Invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, but I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jehadi extremes terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has an antecedents to what happen in Iraq. And we have to continue to be vigilant about it. Senators, let me just follow this line of thinking. You've criticized, Then Senator Clinton's vote, do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? I think we have a disagreement. And the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history John. You will find that regimes change. Whether it was in the early 50s in Iran or whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile. Whether it is overthrowing of Guatemala way back when. These invasions, these. These toppling of governments, regime changes, have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary. 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