Updated at 11:27 p.m. ET

In a unique political split-screen, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden appeared in competing town halls at the same time on Thursday night.

Among their notable answers, Trump declined to denounce the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, while Biden said he’d offer a more concrete answer on “court packing” before Election Day.

The two were supposed to appear in one event Thursday night, but Trump balked at the decision by debate organizers to hold a virtual town hall due to health and safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The campaign of Biden, the Democratic nominee, then scheduled a town hall on ABC News. Days later, the Republican Trump’s campaign set an event with NBC News.

The first segment of Trump’s town hall, held in Miami, was questions by NBC moderator Savannah Guthrie, before prospective voters got a chance to weigh in. While Trump often sparred with Guthrie during an hour of back and forth, Biden spun out often-lengthy, policy-heavy responses to voter questions and follow-ups from the ABC moderator, George Stephanopoulos, in Philadelphia.

Trump on QAnon and “peanut” debt

Trump discussed a wide range of topics, including his handling of the coronavirus, which he defended; the times he failed to denounce white supremacists, which he denied; and the question of whether he would agree to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses to Biden, which he again answered obliquely.

“And the answer is yes I will. But I want it to be an honest election and so does everyone else,” said Trump, who has offered unfounded warnings about the integrity of the election.

An exchange over QAnon produced a rather startling moment, when the president declined to denounce it after Guthrie briefly explained the baseless conspiracy theory: that Trump is battling a “deep state” child sex trafficking ring run by Democrats.

“I know nothing about it. I do know that they are very much against pedophilia,” he said, before pivoting: “I’ll tell you what I do know about: I know about antifa and I know about the radical left.”

Another contentious moment came amid a discussion on Trump’s tax returns, which were revealed last month in a bombshell New York Times report.

Speaking on his finances and the Times‘ disclosure that he holds debts totaling $421 million, Trump said: “The amount of money, $400 million, is a peanut. It’s extremely under-levered. And it’s levered with normal banks.”

Biden on court packing and crime bill

Biden also fielded questions on the pandemic and the economy, as well as fracking, foreign policy and transgender rights.

Notably, Biden made his most extensive comments to date on the question of court packing — the idea promoted by some Democrats to add justices to the Supreme Court should the Senate confirm Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the court this fall.

In recent weeks, Biden had avoided directly answering whether he supports the idea, but Biden this week reiterated that he’s “not a fan.”

“I’m not a fan, but it depends on how this turns out,” Biden said during the town hall. “Not how he wins, but how it’s handled.”

Asked to clarify what he meant by that, Biden said he would make a judgment based on whether a genuine debate can play out on the Senate floor during Barrett’s confirmation process. Pressed further, Biden said he would make his position clear before Election Day, “depending on how they handle this.”

“They do have a right to know where I stand,” Biden said. “They have a right to know where I stand before they vote.”

The Democrat was also pressed on his support of decades-old crime legislation that is blamed for increasing incarceration, especially among minority men.

Stephanopoulos asked Biden if his support of such legislation was a mistake.

“Yes, it was,” he replied. But here’s where the mistake came: The mistake came in terms of what the states did locally.” Biden then defended parts of the legislation he said he advocated for, such as drug courts.

Biden also said “we should be thinking about” making vaccination against the coronavirus mandatory, should a vaccine or vaccines be proven safe and effective, but said he recognized it would be very difficult to enforce vaccination.

Debate debate

A presidential debate was initially scheduled to be held on Thursday, but after Trump was diagnosed with — and eventually recovered from — the coronavirus, his campaign refused to adhere to holding a virtual event instead of an in-person debate, leading to the dueling town hall programs.

Trump on Thursday night also said he didn’t know if he had been tested for the coronavirus prior to the first debate, on Sept. 29.

When asked whether his team had adhered to the debate commission’s “honor system” for the candidates to arrive with a negative coronavirus test, Trump said: “I don’t know. I don’t even remember. I test all the time. But I can tell you this: After the debate, like, I guess a day or so — I think it was Thursday evening, maybe even late Thursday evening, I tested positive.”

There is one more debate on the schedule before the election: Oct. 22 in Nashville.

Biden was asked whether he expects that debate to happen and whether he will demand that Trump test negative on the day of the debate before the two appear on the same stage.

“It’s just decency to be able to determine whether or not you’re clear,” Biden said. “I expect to be there.”

With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, Democrat Joe Biden has taken a double-digit lead over President Trump, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

The former vice president leads Trump 54% to 43% among likely voters in the poll. It’s the highest level of support Biden has achieved since the poll began testing the head-to-head matchup in February. Biden has never been below 50% in the question in the Marist poll, and Trump has never been above 44%.

Trump won 46% of voters in 2016 nationally, but it was enough for him to squeeze out a victory in the states key to the Electoral College. Biden has pulled ahead in several key states, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which were crucial to Trump’s victory in 2016. But Trump is within striking distance.

Biden continues to have an advantage with Black voters, Latinos, whites with a college degree, women, people who live in cities and suburbs, young voters and independents.

Notably, Biden is leading in this survey with white voters 51% to 47%. That is extraordinary. Trump won white voters in 2016 by 20 points, and no Democrat has won that high a share of white voters since Jimmy Carter in 1976, when the U.S. was far less racially diverse.

If Biden does, in fact, win that level with whites, it would indicate that a very large wave is building for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Trump’s strongest groups continue to be white evangelical Christians, rural voters and whites without college degrees. But Trump’s advantage among whites without a degree is down a net of 19 points from last month.

In September, Trump led with whites without a degree 63% to 33%. That has significantly narrowed this month to a 54%-43% advantage for Trump. Trump won them 66% to 29% in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.

The one group the Biden campaign has to be concerned about is Latinos. Biden is only leading 55% to 37% with Latinos. Clinton won Latinos 66% to 28% in 2016.

Biden’s widened lead comes on the heels of Trump’s erratic first debate performance, the vice presidential debate and Trump’s contracting COVID-19. By a 53%-to-35% margin, likely voters say Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, benefitted more from the debates than Trump and Vice President Pence.

Even a quarter of Republicans say Biden-Harris benefitted more or they’re unsure.

Trump’s presidency seen as a failure

A slim majority — 52% — of likely voters say Trump’s presidency has been a failure compared to 45% who say it’s been a success.

Democrats and Republicans have essentially mirror images of how they view this president — 91% of Democrats say Trump’s presidency has been a failure, while 93% of Republicans say it’s been a success. But with independents, a group Trump won in 2016, 56% say his presidency has been a failure.

Whites are split; three-quarters of Black voters say it’s been a failure, as do 53% of Latinos and 62% of whites with a college degree. A majority — 56% — of whites without a college degree, however, think his presidency has been a success.

Trump seen as “incompetent,” Biden seen as “honest”

Americans also largely view President Trump negatively. In an open-ended question, respondents were asked to describe the candidates in one word.

For Trump, the word that stands out is “incompetent,” while for Biden it is “honest.”

To be clear, both candidates have a range of words ascribed to them that are positive and negative.

For Trump, on the positive end, people said he is “good,” “great,” “successful” and “strong.” On the negative side, “incompetent” was the overwhelmingly the most common word used, followed by “liar,” “failure,” “bad,” “horrible,” “disaster,” “arrogant,” “buffoon.”

The positives ascribed to Biden, for example: “honest,” “confident,” “hopeful,” “good,” “trustworthy” and “compassionate.”

On the negative side, voters said: “old,” “confused,” “incompetent,” “senile” and “weak.”

Not many persuadable voters

Trump has inspired strong and polarizing feelings in the country. He has just a 43% job approval rating, and 47% of likely voters say they strongly disapprove of the job he’s doing.

That means there are few undecided voters. In fact, in this survey, just 5% of voters are persuadable — those who are undecided or who support a candidate but might vote differently.

Trump’s advantage continues to be strength of support – his supporters are more strongly committed to him than Biden’s — 87% of Trump voters express a firm commitment, compared with 74% of Biden’s backers.

Biden leads on who’s best to handle multiple issues

Biden has significant advantages among likely voters when it comes to handling coronavirus and race relations, while voters split on who’s best to handle the economy.

On coronavirus, likely voters say they prefer Biden to handle it by a 55% to 41% margin. On race, it’s an even wider 56%-38% advantage for the former vice president.

On the economy, voters are split — 47% say they prefer Trump to handle the economy, 48% say Biden. That’s slightly tighter than the 50%-46% edge for Trump on the economy last month. The economy had been one of Trump’s strengths, but since the coronavirus pandemic shut much of the economy down, Trump’s ratings have suffered some.

How people intend to vote

Almost two-thirds of likely voters say they think there will be many or some attempts to intimidate or prevent legitimate voters from voting.

Most — 58% — are confident the U.S. Postal Service will deliver election-related mail to voters and election officials in a timely manner.

A plurality of voters — 45% — say they intend to vote in person on Election Day. That includes two-thirds of Trump supporters. Trump leads by 27 points with likely voters who say they’ll vote in person on Election Day.

But Biden leads 78% to 21% with voters who have already voted.

Those are important factors to keep in mind, as vote tallies roll in on Election Night, as more than 17 million Americans have already voted.

One-in-five voters say they will vote early at an early voting location; a third say they will vote by mail. That includes 43% of Biden backers. Biden leads by 35 points with those who say they will vote early in person and by 50 points with those who say they will vote by mail or absentee.

Views of coronavirus and the president

By a 71%-to-26% margin, likely voters view the coronavirus as a “real threat” as opposed to it being “blown out of proportion.” Republicans are split on this question, with 51% saying it’s blown out of proportion and 46% saying it’s a real threat.

Democrats and independents overwhelmingly say it’s a real threat.

Only 36% of likely voters say they trust what they’re hearing from Trump on the virus a great deal or a good amount; 63% say they don’t trust what they hear from the president very much or not at all.

Almost two-thirds — 63% — say it would be a good idea to impose national mask mandate. That includes almost 9-in-10 Democrats and two-thirds of independents. Two-thirds of Republicans think it would be a bad idea.

Amy Coney Barrett nomination

By a 47%-to-40% margin, more likely voters support Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court than don’t. Three-quarters of Democrats oppose, 9-in-10 Republicans support it, and independents are split with a fifth undecided.

But a majority believes that Barrett should be confirmed after the election (26%) or not at all (30%). Forty percent think she should be confirmed immediately, but that’s because 84% of Republicans say so.

A majority of Democrats, and a third of independents, think she should not be confirmed at all.

The survey was conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion using live callers. Included are 1,397 adults with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, 1,199 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points and 896 likely voters for a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.