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What issues are most important to Democratic voters right now?

Democratic voters are gravely concerned about the prospect of foreign interference in the next election and are deeply bothered by the conditions of immigration detention centers, but the consensus on impeaching President Trump isn’t as strong.

Those are some of the conclusions of a Quinnipiac University national poll focused on issues that was released Tuesday.

Ninety percent of Democratic voters surveyed said they believed Mr. Trump sought to derail or obstruct the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Only four percent of Democrats in the poll said the investigation into Russian interference by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who testified before Congress last week, cleared Mr. Trump of any wrongdoing.

But even as growing numbers of House Democrats indicate that they would support beginning impeachment proceedings, the survey showed that there is hardly unanimity among Democratic voters on that question. Sixty-one percent of Democratic voters surveyed did say they think Congress should begin impeachment proceedings, but nearly one-third polled — 29 percent — did not think so.

On the campaign trail, a number of Democratic presidential candidates have reflected that dynamic, focusing instead on issues including health care, economic inequality and racial justice.

There is broader consensus among Democrats on other issues, as surveys show that health care, the environment and education are among the top issues for Democratic voters.

And according to the Quinnipiac survey, 72 percent of Democratic voters surveyed said they were “very concerned” that a foreign government could seek to interfere in the 2020 election, and 87 percent of Democrats said they wanted to Congress to pass additional laws aimed at combating potential interference in the next campaign, the poll found.

Can de Blasio generate any momentum?

The mayor of New York is at one percent in the polls — when he registers at all — and raised barely more than $1 million dollars in the last fund-raising quarter, well behind many of his rivals.

Eager to stand out, he has taken to swinging at Democratic opponents from Mr. Biden to Mr. O’Rourke, as well as seeking to slam President Trump at every turn. So far, that has not meaningfully moved the needle for Mr. de Blasio.

Even if he does land a strong debate performance Wednesday, that doesn’t guarantee a momentum jolt. He delivered what was widely considered a sharp debate performance last month, only to have it overshadowed the next day when he quoted Che Guevara, the communist figure who is reviled by many in South Florida, while speaking in Miami. Mr. de Blasio apologized.

Still, Mr. de Blasio showed in the last debate that he can be energetic and fluent onstage. Can he translate those skills into a moment that catapults him out of the bottom tier of candidates?

Here’s a quick recap from last night’s debate.

How is Biden preparing for the debate?

At the first presidential primary debate, Joseph R. Biden Jr. gave a halting, unsteady response when Senator Kamala Harris attacked his record on busing, alarming even some of his own allies and donors who wondered whether he was up to the long-term goal of taking on President Trump.

Since then, the message from his allies and advisers has been emphatic: Mr. Biden won’t let that happen on Wednesday.

“He will not be caught off-guard again,” said Dick Harpootlian, a South Carolina state senator, a longtime friend of the former vice president’s.

Since the first debate, Mr. Biden has been increasingly willing to draw contrasts with his opponents over issues including health care and policing. His advisers say that he is not interested in personally attacking his opponents, but that he does see genuine areas of policy difference that are worth exploring, particularly on health care.

Mr. Biden supports a so-called public option but opposes Medicare for All, the sweeping single-payer proposal that is the top legislative priority of Senator Bernie Sanders and is supported by other contenders in the field, including Ms. Harris.

One thing to watch: Mr. Biden, allies say, was personally shocked and even hurt by the pointed attack Ms. Harris made last month, given her friendship with Mr. Biden’s late son, Beau Biden. Some of his supporters are still livid about her remarks. Can Mr. Biden effectively draw policy contrasts with Ms. Harris, should the two engage again, without showing flashes of anger that distract from his message?

How did the last debate change public opinion polls?

The rematch between Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris has been billed as the must-see pairing of tonight’s presidential debate. But while the June debate featured a wobbly performance by Mr. Biden, and a breakout one by Ms. Harris as she challenged his record on race, it is hard to find much evidence that their first matchup had a lasting effect on public opinion.

Just over a month later, Mr. Biden holds the support of 32 percent of Democratic voters, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average. It’s exactly what he held heading into the June debate. He fell to 26 percent in the week that followed that first debate, but he has recovered nearly all of the support he lost.

Ms. Harris’ breakthrough did not prove durable, either. She briefly surged to about 15 percent, good for a three-way tie with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Mr. Sanders in second place. But Ms. Harris has slipped back to around 11 percent in the latest polls, about halfway in between her post-debate peak and the 7 percent she held heading into the contest.

It’s a reminder that the debates, despite their high viewership, don’t always have a lasting effect on the race. A wave of positive headlines can swing the polls, but aren’t guaranteed to bring about a lasting change in public opinion.

[Moderate candidates struggled in Tuesday’s debate. Will Mr. Biden make a stronger case tonight?]

Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris aren’t just competing for a new round of positive headlines in tonight’s debate. Over the long run, they are competing for the support of black voters, who are poised to make up around 20 percent of the national Democratic electorate.

It helps explain Ms. Harris’ attacks on Mr. Biden’s record on race, busing and segregation in the first contest, yet Mr. Biden nonetheless maintains a lead among black voters in recent polls, including a commanding 53 percent to 7 percent advantage over Ms. Harris in the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

Ratings fell sharply for the Tuesday night’s debate.

Blame summer doldrums, political fatigue, or competition from two hit reality shows. Whatever the reason, viewership for Tuesday’s Democratic debate on CNN fell sharply from the massive audience that tuned in last month for the opening round of debates in Miami.

About 8.7 million Americans watched the debate portion of Tuesday’s event in Detroit, according to Nielsen statistics released on Wednesday. The average audience was roughly 8.2 million for the entire two-hour-and-43-minute broadcast, including candidates’ opening and closing statements and a Hollywood-style video that CNN aired at the start.

By comparison, about 15.3 million people watched the first debate night in Miami, which aired on MSNBC, Telemundo, and NBC’s national affiliates.

Still, CNN’s audience was easily the largest on television for the night, edging out “America’s Got Talent” on NBC and the season finale of ABC’s “The Bachelorette.” The viewership was roughly the same as a Democratic debate that aired on CNN in January 2008, at the height of a tight primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The Nielsen numbers did not include viewers who watched online or via streaming video.

President Trump commented on the low ratings and suggested that things would be different if he were onstage.

Sanders raises $1.1 million after last night’s debate

These primary debates are not just about arguments and rebuttals anymore. They’re about dollars and cents.

Ms. Harris demonstrated the potential to impact a campaign’s bottom line in June, when she raised $3.2 million by the end of the weekend after she confronted Mr. Biden onstage.

And Mr. Sanders became the first candidate to report any money totals following Tuesday’s clash in Detroit, announcing he had received more than $1.1 million from more than 70,000 contributions.

On Tuesday night, Mr. Sanders’s campaign had acted fast, sending a fund-raising email with the subject line “I wrote the damn bill” before the debate was even over. Mr. Sanders had just rattled off the line to silence Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who had questioned exactly what services would be provided under Mr. Sanders’s Medicare for All legislation.

As an added enticement to would-be donors, the Sanders campaign offered a “I wrote the damn bill” sticker to anyone who gave any amount.

Reported and written by Nate Cohn, Michael M. Grynbaum, Shane Goldmacher and Katie Glueck.

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